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THE £^$0 



INSTITUTES 



OF 



TNOMSONDSM 



BY Dr. WILLIAM HENRY FONERDEN, 

Member of the Philadelphia Branch of the United 
States Thomson ian FriendlyHBotanic Society. 



PHILADELPHIA 




rRTNTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE BOTANIC SENTINEL, 

NO. 80, SOUTH STREET. 
1837. 




Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the 
year one thousand eight hundred and thirty -six, by Dr. 
Wm, Henry Fonerden, in the Clerk's Office of the Dis- 
trict Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



PREFACE. 

It will be obvious to every one, that any 
scheme which proposes for its ultimate object 
to meliorate the condition of the human family 
h of the utmost importance to the community 
at large, and deserves from each individual, 
even the most sceptical, a calm and unpreju- 
diced investigation. Such a scheme, character- 
ized by universal philanthropy, we believe the 
Thomsonian system of medical practice to be; 
and we only bespeak for it a candid and impar- 
tial examination of its claims. It is alone by 
pursuing this means, that a stranger to the 
principles on which it is based, can arrive at 
any just conclusions in regard to its relative 
and actual merits. Encouraged by the hope 
that this volume will fall nto the hands of 
many who will take this honourable and high 
minded course, as well as by his own implicit 
confidence in the system he espouses, the au- 
thor cheerfully undertakes the task he has thus 
voluntarily imposed upon himself, not however 
without feeling his own incompetency to do 
2* 



IV 

justice to a cause that well deserves a better 
head and belter heart. 

The substance of the following pages was 
written some time ago in short notes, which 
were the basis of a regular course of lectures 
the author intended to deliver. Uncontrolable 
circumstances preventing the execution of this 
design, the notes have lain until the present 
time hidden amongst various other manuscripts; 
and the desire of advancing the Botanic system 
of medicine now prompts to a publication of 
them in a form more befitting the public eye. 
It is hoped it may not prove altogether a work 
of supererogation, notwithstanding the variety 
of valuable treatises, essays and lectures that 
have already appeared. 

The title which has been given may seem 
strange to many readers, and may lead others 
to form, at first view, an opinion of the general 
character of the work different from what is 
intended. It should be borne in mind that the 
Thomsonian physiology and pathology are not 
founded on speculation, but on actual facts ob- 
servable by any one, though he may not be 
skilled in the philosophy of the schools; conse- 
quently, there is no need for a description of 
the organs of the human body, their functions; 
the modifications, nor the symptoms of disease. 
The author wishes it distinctly understood, 
that he is purely Thomsonian in his principles, 



and that the volume now offered to the public 
if designed solely for the advancement of that 
system which originated with Dr. Samuel 
Thomson. He has examined what have been 
called " scientific improvements" on his the- 
ory and practice, but confesses his failure to 
discover their superior claims so highly extolled 
by their advocates. Whether it is for want of 
sufficient penetration on his part remains yet to 
be tested. In the following pages his views 
will be given in such a manner as to afford am- 
ple opportunity of judging whether they were 
received prematurely, or after a strict investi- 
gation of the comparative merits of ihe various 
systems. 



PHYSIOLOGY; 

OR, 

THE THEORY OF LIFE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Dr. Rush's Theory of Life examined. 

There is no doctrine of Thomsonism that 
has met with more violent and unyielding oppo- 
sition than that which teaches " Heat is Life.'" 
Various means have been used for the entire 
subversion of this fundamental principle. It 
has been said, with this specific object in view, 
that, when carried out in all its legitimate 
bearings, it will ultimately lead to materialism. 
When this objection w r as first urged in our hear- 
ing we were startled, and almost concluded to 
abandon the opinion; but, on more mature de- 
liberation on the subject, we feel more than 
ever disposed to maintain it. Nor do we be- 
lieve there is as much danger of departing from 
the paths of Christianity, and becoming involved 
in the interminable mazes of infidelity as some 
are willing to suppose. The difficulty arises 
wholly from confounding animal life with the 
soul, which is manifestly an error in any sys- 
tem. If the immaterial soul and animal life, or 
the principle that animates the body, be syno- 
nymous terms, or rather if they are one and 
the self same principle, then the operation of 



10 

any power, or the occurrence of any casualty* 
that would destroy animal existence must like- 
wise, as a necessary consequence, annihilate 
the soul at the same time. This reasoning will 
apply with equal propriety to scholastic theo- 
ries, and in our opinion, will be found far more 
favourable to the doctrine we are now advo- 
cating, than to that of the late renowned Dr. 
Rush. 

In saying "heat is life," we only express 
what we conceive to be the essence of animal 
existence, without clothing it with any of the 
peculiar attributes of the soul; whereas the au- 
thor to whom we have referred, in maintaining 
that heat, motion, sensation and thought, when 
united, compose perfect life, evidently, though 
undesignedly, no doubt, makes the immaterial 
soul, and the principle that animates the body 
one and the same thing. 

Thought, according to this theory, is one of 
the essential principles that constitute that state 
or condition denominated life. Cogitation, how- 
ever, is neither an inherent principle of mat- 
ter, nor the result of organization. It is one of 
those faculties which God, in his infinite wis- 
dom and goodness, has seen proper to unite in- 
separably to the soul; and it will necessarily 
follow, that the duration of the cogitative power 
or thought, must be commensurate with the 



11 

existence of the soul. But if thought is an es- 
sential constituent principle of animal life T 
whatever destroys existence must likewise de- 
stroy cogitation; and if cogitation be a faculty 
indissolubly connected with the soul, whatever 
destroys thought must, in the very nature of 
things, annihilate the soul at the same time. 

Dr. Jackson, in his late work on "The Prin- 
ciples of Medicine, " asks, "If the intellectual 
and moral faculties are not exercised by organs, 
how is it possible that they should be so entire- 
ly and profoundly modified by influences wholly 
material in their nature? Will it be said, that 
the immaterial principle acts independent of all 
organization, and yet is excited by stimuli, be- 
numbed by narcotics, modified by climate, by 
aliment, by sympathetic reactions of the differ- 
ent organs; in fine, by whatever is capable of 
exerting an influence over the organic or phy- 
sical structure of the economy ?" 

It must be evident to every observer, that al- 
though the immaterial principle may be depen- 
dent, whilst confined to its "clay tenement,'* 
on the organs for the manifestation and exer- 
cise of its intellectual and moral faculties, yet 
it surely does not derive the existence of those 
powers from physical structure or organization, 
IT It does not, then these faculties are peculi- 
arly properties, qualities, or powers of the soul. 



12 

As thought is one of these intellectual faculties, 
not deriving its existence from any organ, 
though depending thereon for its manifestation 
and exercise, but an inherent principle of the 
immaterial part, it cannot be considered a con- 
stituent of life without confounding animal ex- 
istence with the soul. 

We conceive moreover, that the term " mo- 
tion, 11 as used in this definition, has been misap- 
plied, and that tl :e meaning of Dr. Rush was, 
that the motive faculty, or power to move, is 
requisite to the perfection of life. If, however, 
we have mistaken his meaning, and if he really 
intended the precise idea conveyed in the term 
which has been used, we should have a still 
more decided objection to his theory. It is 
certain, from the structure and conformation 
of the human body, that it is designed for mo- 
tion, yet we cannot comprehend how it is 
therefore, under the absolute necessity of being 
in constant or perpetual motion. If it is not 
thus necessitated, we cannot understand huw 
motion itself, or the act of motion is required 
for the perfection of animal existence. But 
even on the supposition, that the correction we 
have ventured to make is proper, we cannot 
see that capability of motion is essential to life. 
There are facts which prove the contrary; for, 
when the powers of life are only suspended, as in 



13 

asphyxia, supervening from any cause, the mo- 
tive power completely depart:?. If capability 
of motion were necessary to constitute man a 
living being, it must remain with him until the 
very last spark of vitality is extinguished; but, 
in the instance we have mentioned this is not 
the case. We therefore conclude, that the fa- 
culty, power, or capability of motion, is not a 
primary constitutional principle, but rather the 
effect or result of life. 

For these plain, simple reasons we cannot re- 
ceive the doctrine that either thought or motion 
is essential to life, but, with Dr. Thomson, be- 
lieve that " heat is life." This is quite as much, 
we think, in accordance with the tenets of the 
Bible, particularly in regard to the immortality 
of the soul, as the theory we have just exam- 
ined. For although heat, or rather caloric, the 
principle of heat, may be a material substance, 
and therefore destructible, yet we consider ani- 
mal life and the soul as separate and distinct 
principles. This opinion is corroborated and 
established by the words of holy writ — " The 
Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life."" According to commentators, the reading 
of this passage in the original Hebrew is, "the 
breath oflives." Here there is drawn betweep 
the life of the body and that of the soul a line oi 



14 

distinction, sufficiently plain to convince every 
rational mind, that although when we say " heat 
is life," even if w r e do intimate that the body is 
animated by a material substance, we do not 
detract in the least from the immateriality of 
the soul. 

Again, is it approximating any more to ma- 
terialism to say, that heat is the only principle 
of life, than to say with Dr. Rush, that it is 
one of those principles which, when united, 
compose perfect life? We think not. Just so 
far as heat is concerned in the production of 
the phenomena of animal existence, are those 
phenomena dependent on this principle; and in 
the precise extent to which the body is ani- 
mated, whether wholly or partially, by heat, 
is it animated by a material substance. Hence 
the same arguments drawn from this source 
against this principle, being that on which life 
wholly depends, must likewise preclude the 
possibility of heat partially producing the phe- 
nomena. 



15 



CHAPTER II. 

The correctness of Dr. Thomson's Theory estab- 
lished by arguments from Physiology , Patho- 
logy, and Death. 

Having thus given the negative arguments 
in favour of our belief, we will now proceed to 
adduce some of a more positive character. We 
shall endeavour to prove that life is really de- 
pendent on the heat; that disease is caused by 
a diminution of this vital principle, and that 
death is the result of its total abstraction. 

Almost every one that has attentively ob- 
served the operations of nature, must long 
since have noticed the strong affinity manifest- 
ed by vegetable productions for light. It ap- 
pears, indeed, to be essentially necessary for 
the proper developement and perfection of their 
functional vessels, branches, foliage, and rege- 
nerative powers. Nor is this confined to the 
vegetable kingdom alone; for the presence of 
light is requisite for the perfection of animal 
nature also. 

In confirmation, we may quote an article 
that appeared in Professor Jamieson's Philoso- 
phical Journal. After giving a description of 



16 

the subterraneous lake, Zirknitz, in Carniola, 
he says . " Very singular peculiarities have 
been remarked of these different openings in 
the earth; some of them supply nothing but 
water, others supply both water and fishes; 
and there is a third class by which ducks are 
supplied from a subterranean lake. These 
ducks, at the moment that the water floats 
them to the surface above ground, swim with 
perfect facility. They are perfectly blind, and 
almost naked. The faculty of sight, however, 
is speedily acquired, but it is not till two or 
three weeks that their feathers are so grown as 
to allow them to fly, or furnish them an ade- 
quate covering.'" 

Notwithstanding this fact and others of a si- 
milar character, have long been known to the, 
philosophical world, the modus agendi of light 
in developing and perfecting the works of na- 
ture, has never yet, to our knowledge, been 
satisfactorily explained. This influence we 
have no hesitancy in ascribing to the presence 
of heat. It is true, there may be heat without 
light, because the substance exposed to the ac- 
tion of the former, may be capable of absorbing 
those of the latter; yet perhaps, no one will 
deny, that there can be no light without heat. 
Even from many such substances as we have 
alluded to, when exposed to an increased in- 



17 

tensity of heat, light will emanate, and the most 
beautiful coruscations be emitted. Here then 
we have the means of untying this Gordian 
knot, and, at the same time, of sustaining our 
theory. If light be dependent on the presence 
of heat, the developement and perfection of or- 
ganized nature must likewise be dependent 
thereon. But this developement and perfection 
is the peculiar function of the vital power ; — 
therefore, " heat is life. n 

As heat and cold, vulgarly speaking, stand 
directly opposed to each other, it will follow, 
that in proportion to the quantum of the former, 
will be the resistance to the latter. Hence, 
during the excessive or long continued action 
of cold, stimulants by rousing the heat of the 
system have been found highly serviceable. 
For the same reason, persons of a plethoric ha- 
bit of body, are better prepared to resist cold 
than others. Their full physical developement, 
fine flow of animal spirits, and strong passions, 
evince a more than ordinary proportion of the 
vital principle. An exposure to a current of 
air, which in others would be productive of 
a sensation of chilliness, is deemed by them 
a delightful luxury. They are sometimes heard 
to sigh for the return of the winter season, be- 
cause they are not only desirous of enjoying the 
cheerfulness of the social fireside, but also the 
2 



18 

bracing power of the northern winds. Their 
pyrexial or febrile attacks are seldom of a low 
typhoid type, but generally show a tendency to 
assume an inflammatory character. Their flesh 
is irritable, and. phlegmonic or inflammatory 
symptoms supervene upon very slight wounds, 
indicating clearly an abundance of vital power. 
This abundance of living energy, and more 
than ordinary proportion of vital heat in pletho- 
■retic individuals, prove the identity of life and 
heat. 

While these physiological facts prove that 
many of the most remarkable phenomena of 
life, and even animal existence itself are no- 
thing more nor less than the results of the pre- 
sence and influence of heat, which may there- 
fore with propriety be considered as the vital 
principle, others may be drawn from pathology 
equally as demonstrative of the position that 
the abstraction or diminution of the vital heat 
engenders disease. 

One of these, long known to the medical 
world, and mentioned particularly by Dr. Cope- 
land, we mean the transference of the vital 
power from the young to the old, has hitherto 
remained shrouded in impenetrable darkness; 
and we know not by what method of reason- 
ing, according to the principle of the schools, 
it can be accounted for. It has frequently been 



19 

noticed by physicians, whose field of practice 
hasatforded thernan opportunity forobservation, 
that when those who are just growing up, are 
in the habit of sleeping with aged persons, 
their looks become emaciated; they are trou- 
bled with functional debility and lassitude of 
the whole system; a distressing marasmus su- 
pervenes; and often they are brought to an un- 
timely grave before their physical powers are 
fully developed. Every effort has failed to res- 
cue the unfortunate victim from the hand of his 
insidious foe. 

The cause of this imperceptible consumption 
of vital energy, it has baffled the philosophy 
of the wisest to discover. But let us turn to 
the doctrine of Thomson, and we find at once 
a clue to direct us from the labyrinth of vague 
conjecture and endless speculation to the light 
of truth. In the supposition that u heat is life," 
we have the solution of this difficult and per- 
plexing problem. Heat has a natural tendency 
to diffuse itself through surrounding substances, 
and maintain an equilibrium in all. The aged 
having lost a considerable portion of their vital 
heat, abstract from the young to make up their 
own deficiency. The abstraction exceeding the 
quantum generated in the system of the young, 
they daily grow more and more feeble, while 
the old are invigorated by the transition. Thus, 
3* 



20 

considering the vital power to be the vital heat ? 
simultaneously explains this phenomenon, and 
proves that " heat is life." 

The pernicious and too often fatal effects of 
drinking cold water when the system is heated 
by exercise, may also be urged as an argument 
in favour of the Thomsonian theory of life. 
The stomach is the grand centre of sympa- 
thies, and on being brought in contact with the 
water, its natural heat, by means of which the 
functions of the whole system are carried on 
with regularity, is communicated, according 
to the laws that govern the action of heat or 
caloric, to the water. By the operation of the 
same principles, the determining powers rush 
from the surface and extremities to restore an 
equilibrium. Hence, the superficial emuncto- 
ries are closed ; the passage of the blood 
through the external capillary blood vessels 
is obstructed for want of sufficient vital energy 
to continue their action; and the same abstrac- 
tion occurring in all the organs successively, 
until finally it reaches the stomach itself, death 
quickly ensues. Now, the water abstracts 
neither the excitability of Brown, nor the mo- 
tion, sensation, or thought of Rush; but merely 
the heat of Thomson, on the presence of which, 
as we have already shown, all these are depen- 
dent; therefore, " heat is life." 



21 



CHAPTER III. 

Objections to the Thomsonian Theory of Lift 
answered. 

We have frequently been pained to discover 
on the part of some of the professed disciples 
of Dr. Thomson, a disposition so to modify 
many of the distinctive features of his system, 
as to chime in with the popular opinions of the 
day. We do not wish to impugn the motives 
of any, but are willing to suppose this disposi- 
tion has arisen from the circumstance of there 
being difficulties in the way of the reception of 
his entire creed, which they have been unable 
to obviate. Now, we believe the founder of the 
Botanic practice did not use the expression, 
" heat is life," in a figurative manner; but, on 
the contrary, intended to convey the literal idea* 
contained in these words. 

Although it may be obnoxious to our oppo- 
nents, and even prove unpalatable to many of 
our warmest friends, we are not willing to give 
up the doctrine. The theories that have been 
offered us in its stead do not appear to us as ra- 
tional as itself, and the objections urged against 
it are not of that forcible kind that it would re* 



22 

quire to convince us of our error. We have 
already seen, that whatever may be his theolo- 
gical tenets, any man may receive it safely 
without danger of emerging into infidelity, or 
even hazarding his orthodoxy. We will now 
inquire into its philosophy. 

One of the strongest arguments against this 
view of the principle of life is, that "roasted 
potatoes will not vegetate, and a boiled egg 
cannot be hatched," or, as it is more commonly 
expressed, " heat will destroy life." In inves- 
tigating the validity of this objection, we are led 
into the discussion of two questions which are 
involved in it : — First, Does heat in either of 
the instances named really destroy life 1 And 
secondly, Why cannot roasted potatoes vege- 
tate, or a boiled egg be hatched ? 

With reference to the first of these questions 
we would say, it must be evident to every per- 
son who has given the slightest attention to the 
subject that it should be answered in the nega- 
tive. Leaving entirely out of view the line of 
distinction which should be drawn between the 
embryo and actual life, there is no destruction 
of the living principle. In both the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, a certain length of time 
must elapse before the principle of life is im- 
planted in, or imparted to, the plant or body. 
In the human species the foetus must remain in 



23 

the womb four months before the period of 
quickening arrives. Why do we speak of the 
period of quickening if it enjoys vitality Jtrom 
the very first moment of conception. The use 
of the term itself implies some definite juncture 
of time when the spark of life is first struck, 
from which the fire of actual existence shall 
thereafter be enkindled. 

Dr. Howard has very justly remarked, that 
" a simple substance contains but one simple 
principle; and this, so long as it remains insulated 
from other matter, is inert and incapable of 
producing phenomena of any kind whatever. 
It is by combination of different [kinds of] mat- 
ter, each being invested with its peculiar prin- 
ciple, that the operations of nature are carried 
on."* Now, whatever may be the varied com- 
binations of different kinds of matter, or how- 
ever peculiar their organization may be, with- 
out heat, or more scientifically speaking, with- 
out caloric, it will form at best but an inani- 
mate mass; and, on the other hand, where 
there is no organization, or form of matter pro- 
perly combined, heat cannot produce the phe- 
nomena of life. Hence, before the period of 
vivifaction, notwithstanding the combination 
of matter in the potato or the egg, may be a pro- 
per one for the vivifying action of heat, neither 
* Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 37. 



24 

the roasting of the one, nor the boiling of the 
other, destroys life, because that principle has 
not as yet been communicated. 

But, if there is no destruction of life, why 
cannot a roasted potato vegetate, or a boiled 
egg be hatched ? We answer, because their or- 
ganization, or the proper combination of mat- 
ter in them is destroyed. But is not this the 
effect of heat or caloric applied in the process 
of roasting or boiling? Undoubtedly it is; yet 
there is a very wide difference between the or- 
ganization of matter, and the vitality of organ- 
ized matter. 

We may add to the remark of Dr. Howard 
already quoted, that it requires not only a com- 
bination of the proper kinds of matter to pro- 
duce any certain phenomena, but a proper 
proportion of each kind must likewise be ob- 
served in that combination. No one would ex- 
pect to derive the sulphate of soda from a com- 
bination of sulphuric acid with lime, because 
lime is not the proper kind of matter from 
which to form that salt. If even sulphuric acid 
be combined with soda, it must be in the right 
proportion : if the acid be either in excess, or 
deficient in quantity, the result is disastrous in 
regard to the substance formed. Let us apply 
this reasoning to the subject in hand. However 
proper then may be the different kinds of mat- 



25 

ter in the egg or potato, no other principle 
than heat is capable of producing the pheno- 
mena of vivifaction. And though the heat be 
actually the principle of life, it must be in the 
proper proportion : its excess or deficiency 
producing phenomena of a widely different 
character from those which were anticipated. 

From all that has been said, it must be evi- 
dent that it does not follow as a necessary con- 
sequence, because " roasted potatoes will not 
vegetate, and a boiled egg cannot be hatched," 
that therefore heat is not life, or that Dr. Thom- 
son used the expression figuratively. If the ap- 
plication of heat, before the time of vivifac- 
tion, destroys the capability of the germ or 
embryo to undergo the vivifying process, this 
does not prove that there is a destruction of the 
vital principle, inasmuch as that principle is as 
yet wanting. And if after this principle has 
been communicated, the organization of a ve- 
getable or animal body is destroyed, even such 
destruction does no prove that heat is not life. 
It is well known that the full beams of a bright 
sun will extinguish a fire. Does this prove that 
caloric is not the principle by which combus- 
tion is effected? The heat of the sun may over- 
come the heat of burning wood, &c. ; but, does 
this prove that heat is not heat ? 



26 

But, since the existence of a vital principle 
has been lately denied, we will enter into a 
discussion of that subject in our next chapter, in 
order that the propriety of the preceding argu- 
ments may be duly appreciated. 



27 



CHAPTER IV. 

Review of Dr. Howard's Theory of the Principle 
of Life. 

We now come more immediately to examine 
the interesting question — Whether there really 
is any abstract or distinct principle on which 
the phenomena of life are dependent? Dr. 
Cullen ascribed them to what he denominated 
"autocrateia." Others have used different terms 
to express the same principle, one calling it the 
vis vital, another the vis insita, &c. They all, 
however, are about equivalent to Dr. Thom- 
son's " vital power." Latterly, the existence 
of such a principle has been denied by those 
from whom we little expected it, after the claims 
they have urged for science and improvements. 

The reviver of this old and absurd theory 
says, " The compounding and decompounding 
[of] the matter or proximate elements of which 
man is composed is, undoubtedly, to some cer- 
tain extent, continually going on within us. 
This process is indispensably necessary to our 
existence, and essentially constitutes vitality or 
life."* In our opinion, the author here begs 
* Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 36. 



28 

his premises, since it is by no means a self evi- 
dent truth, that such a change fci is continually 
going on within us;' 1 neither is it allowed by 
e\ery medical writer. Indeed, there are some 
circumstances that militate against the proposi- 
tion. If there be such an operation in the ani- 
mal economy, then, as some have maintained, 
there must be a universal and thorough renova- 
tion of the human frame, at least once, and 
very probably oftener, during the period of our 
natural life. Now, it is well known, that those 
who have been inoculated with the virus of the 
small pox, have but little to fear from the con- 
tagious character of this dreadful disease. It is 
true, there are instances in which even the in- 
oculated have not been exempt from a second 
attack; but, a few exceptions cannot invalidate 
a general rule. Whence arises this security, if 
not from the fact that the atoms of the body re- 
main essentially the same ? 

After having thus adverted to "the effect pro- 
duced in the compounding and decompounding 
of the elements of man," and having denomi- 
nated this effect " the living state or condition 
of the body termed life," the author adds : — 
u This view of what constitutes life, does away 
the necessity of supposing a vital principle, 
principle of life, living principle, and many 
other terms which have been used to express 



29 

the hitherto unknown something which produces 
the phenomena of animal existence."* If this 
author's views, which are certainly peculiar, or 
rather original, are received, we might perhaps 
be ready to admit his inferences likewise; but, 
as those views are supported by no very pow- 
erful arguments, we consider ourselves at per- 
fect liberty to question the correctness of his 
conclusion. 

Three points yet remain to be satisfactorily 
settled before we proceed any farther. The 
first is, Whether this change is " continually go- 
ing on within us?" Secondly. Whether it " is 
indispensably necessary to our existence ?" And 
thirdly, whether it " essentially constitutes vi- 
tality or life ?" 

The first of these questions has already been 
answered in the affirmative, though, in our opi- 
nion, such an answer is not warranted by the 
evidence in its favour, submitted to the consi- 
deration of the reader. Perhaps one of the 
strongest arguments in support of this hypothe- 
sis, (for such only we conceive it to be,) is the 
fact, that some portions of the human body, for 
instance, the hair, the nails; and, in the male, 
the beard, are frequently renewed. But, al- 
though this be a fact, confirmed by the observ- 
ation of every day, and therefore no longer sus- 
* Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. rol. i. p. 37. 



30 

ceptible of doubt, yet it is matter of doubt whe- 
ter this change be a natural consequence, re- 
sulting from the operation of any of the laws by 
which the human body is governed. Indeed, 
this very renovation or renewal seems, on the 
contrary, to result from the action of external 
agents, or the occurrence of circumstances en- 
tirely adventitious. 

Nature seems to have assigned certain limits 
to these portions of the body to which tbey may 
extend their growth, but beyond which they 
cannot go. When the glossy ringlets of the lit- 
tle girl are cut from tim e to time, nature un- 
ceasingly continues her renovating efforts; but 
when the little girl advances in life, blooms m 
the maturity of womanhood, and is no longer 
compelled to submit to the operation of the scis- 
sors, the rich suit of hair with which she has 
been favoured comes to perfection, and the re- 
newing exertions of nature are suspended, un- 
til some new exigency shall have again re- 
quired them. 

The nails are also under the influence of the 
same determinate laws. The customs and 
usages of a civilized community justly demand 
a due attention to personal cleanliness, and in 
compliance with their requisitions the nails are 
frequently pared; thus their progressive growth 
is ensured. But in some of the Asiatic coun- 



31 

tries where long nails are esteemed an orna- 
ment, when they have attained a certain length 
they cease to grow. We need scarcely refer 
the reader for an instance of a similar kind, to 
a religious sect in onr own country, who per- 
mit the beard to grow as a part of their duty. 



32 

CHAPTER V. 

The question — "Is the progressive mutation of the 
animal economy necessary to life?" discussed. 

We have already examined the grounds on 
which the theory of a progressive mutation of 
the atoms or elements of which the human 
body is composed; and though we even admit 
that such a change is actually "going on within 
us" at all times, the admission can by no means 
prove that it u is indispensably necessary to our 
existence.* If such a mutation occur at all, it 
must be the result of one of three things : — 
First, The action of external causes : Secondly, 
The operation of some established principle in- 
herent in the nature of man : or, Thirdly, The 
combined action of both. 

That extraneous causes or agents, operating 
on the structure of the human frame, may pro- 
duce organic lesion or structural derangement, 
destroy the vitality of the animal fibre, and thus 
effect "the decompounding [of] the elements of 
man," we can easily believe; but we cannot 
comprehend how similar causes or agents can 
restore the vital energy, or have any part in 
the compounding of these elements when once 



33 

they are decomposed. If mortification of the 
smallest fibre e take place, there is no known 
cause, principle, or agent which can, indepen- 
dent of, and abstract from, the principle or 
power of life, induce a health) 7 action in the 
diseased part, or compound a new fibre to sup- 
ply the loss occasioned by the sloughing of the 
dead one. This mutation or change cannot, 
therefore, be attributed solely to the action of 
external causes or agents. 

So far as it relates to the second source, 
whence such change may have its origin, viz: 
11 the operation of some principle inherent in 
the nature of man," we have only to remark, 
that perhaps no one can be found, who wiil se- 
riously argue that the action, or even the exist- 
ence, of a principle directly tending to the de- 
struction of life, " is indispensably necessary ," 
to prolong life. And yet undoubtedly this must 
be the inevitable bearing of the argument, if we 
ascribe the change spoken of to the operation 
of any innate principle of the constitution. One 
function of this principle, in order to effect 
such a change, would be to " decompose the 
elements of man," and, by consequence, to de- 
stroy vitality. If then the mutation of the atoms 
of the human body depends on the action of 
this innate principle of nature; and if such a 
change is " indispensably necessary to our ex- 
S 



34 

istence, 11 it must follow that the principle it- 
self is equally as essential to life. But this prin- 
ciple must be possessed of a tendency to extin- 
guish vitality; hence, a principle tending to the 
destruction of life, " is indispensably necessary 
to our existence.' 1 This argument refutes it- 
self. Whatever power, therefore, this estab- 
lished principle may exert in the " compound- 
ing of the elements of man," we cannot yield 
our assent to so absurd a proposition, as, that 
the power of the same principle is exerted for 
the destruction or " decompounding' 1 of those 
elements. 

Consequently, as neither of the first two 
causes assigned, operating singly, can effect 
this change, we must seek the only alternative 
left us, and ascribe its origin to the combined 
action of both. Since the first directly tends to 
" the decompounding of the elements of man, 11 
its existence, or rather its action cannot, as we 
have already shown, be " indispensably neces- 
sary to our existence. 11 If its existence is not 
absolutely required for the continuance of life, 
the change is not "indispensably necessary;" 
for the necessity of the change depends on the 
necessary conjoint action of both these causes. 

The third and last point to be settled is, 
u whether this change essentially constitutes 
vitality or life ?" Something may be " indispen- 



35 

*ably necessary to our existence," and yet not 
constitute that condition which we term life; 
but that which constitutes vitality cannot, in 
the very nature of things be dispensed with 
without the loss of life. The question then un- 
der present consideration turns on the single 
pivot, whether this change -" is indispensably 
necessary to our existence? 1 ' We have seen 
from the foregoing arguments, that even on the 
supposition that it is " continually going on 
within us," it may nevertheless be dispensed 
with. It will therefore follow, that such a 
change does not " essentially constitute vitality 
or life." 

It must appear evident from what has been 
said, that neither of the propositions which we 
have investigated, has as yet been satisfacto- 
rily established ; on the contrary, each one se- 
parately has been proved to be incorrect. It 
cannot therefore be expected that we will ad- 
mit any inference, however logical its deduc- 
tion may be, which is drawn from an ill founded 
postulate. Both postulate and inference are 
but consecutive links of the same chain, and 
such is the indissoluble connexion existing be- 
tween them, that if the former is disproved the 
latter is destroyed; if the foundation is over- 
turned, the superstructure must fall. Let us 
4* 



36 

now proceed to an examination of the entire 
argument. 

If then, this change " essentially constitutes 
vitality or life," it must be " indispensably ne- 
cessary to our existence;" and, if it be abso- 
lutely indispensable, it must necessarily be 
" continually going on within us." The corol- 
lary deduced from this comprehensive postu- 
late is, that " this view of what constitutes 
life, does away the necessity of supposing a 
vital principle, principle of life, living principle, 
and many other terms which have been used 
to express the hitherto unknown something, 
which produces the various phenomena of ani- 
mal existence." But since the position itself, 
assumed without an attempt at proof, cannot 
be sustained by sound argumentation, the cor- 
rectness of the inference is completely annihi- 
lated, and " the necessity of supposing a vital 
principle" remains as imperious as ever, not- 
withstanding this mighty effort to destroy it. 

We are thus strenuous in advocating the ex- 
istence and the continual action of a principle 
of life, because some of the doctrines we shall 
have occasion hereafter to advance, stand in 
the most intimate connexion with it. 



37 



CHAPTER VI 

Pathological Phenomena prove the existence of 
a principle or power of Life. 

We shall next institute an inquiry into the 
character of the theory which has been offered 
us in lieu of that which supposes a vital princi- 
ple, and we are compelled to say that like all 
others not derived from personal experience 
and actual observation, it bears impressed on 
its very front the stamp of gross inconsistency 
and glaring contradiction. 

After having, as we have already seen, posi- 
tively denied the existence of a principle of life, 
the author says, " It must be evident that the 
preserving power of health can be nothing else 
than the power of life."* Indeed, it is only on 
the supposition of such a principle that we can 
account for recovery from disease without the 
aid of medicines. This fact we often see ex- 
emplified, and such cases we refer with the ce- 
lebrated Hippocrates to the sanative effort of 
the vis medicatrix naturce, or restorative power 
of nature. 

Against this opinion it is argued, " if it were 
* Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 47. 



88 

by an effort of nature that diseases were cured r 
this event could happen only at the very onset, 
as it must be admitted that nature's power to 
make an effort is then at its zenith, and is grow- 
ing weaker and weaker as disease progresses."* 
Here, as in most other instances, our opponents 
beg the question. We do not admit, that in the 
onset of disease, " nature's power to make an 
effort is then at its zenith." An admission of 
this kind would destroy the congruity of our 
medical tenets, which, at the present, com- 
mands our admiration as a pre-eminently beau- 
tiful and distinctive feature of the Thomsonian 
system. We could not then account for the pro- 
gressive violence of fever^ which we consider 
the friend of life. We concur in the opinion of 
Dr. Cullen, that while nature appears, during 
the cold stage of fevers to be quiescent, she is 
only concentrating her forces for a more irre- 
sistible attack upon the foe. Hence the febrile 
paroxysm is always proportioned to the chill, 
which is evidence that nature is only then rising 
to her zenith. 

This argument is as illogical as the one we 
have just rebutted, although it is its converse. 
In that we discover a wrong position assumed; 
in this an unfair inference deduced. For even 
supposing, that only in the commencement of 

* Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 36. 



3d 

disease, " nature's power to make an effort id 
then at its zenith, 1 ' this is not proof that her most 
powerful exertions are then made for the re- 
pulsion of disease. We may with the same de- 
gree of propriety argue that a man, if he reco- 
ver at all from disease, can only so recover 
when in the very prime of life, because " it 
must be admitted," that his constitution being 
then most vigorous, its " power to make an ef- 
fort is then at its zenith." Mow, although at 
the onset of disease, nature may be possessed 
of as much "power to make an effort" as she 
can possibly be at any other period, the full 
exercise of this power may, nevertheless, be 
suspended until the aggravation of the symp- 
toms require it. One of the wise regulations 
under which the constitution of man has been 
placed by the Lord of Creation is, that every 
effort shall be exactly commensurate with the 
emergency that puts it in requisition. In ac- 
cordance with this law, if the symptoms be 
mild in the onset the effort of nature is slight; 
but, if they become more alarming, her power 
is exerted in proportion to the violence of the 
disease. If therefore this argument against the 
power of nature is to be made available in any 
degree, it remains first to establish the premise; 
and secondly, to deduce a fair inference. 



40 



CHAPTER VII. 

Two antagonist principles operating in Disease. 



*> 



" But instead of such an hypothesis as this, 
[the effort of nature to repel disease,] say these 
scientific improvers of Dr. Thomson's theory y 
" it appears much more rational to conclude, 
that the system of man is so constituted by the 
Author of his existence, that every disease pro- 
duces an effect which is calculated to remove 
the cause by which it was produced. "* Really, 
if we had not been seriously told, that this is 
more rational than the belief in an innate prin- 
ciple of nature, by which disease is repelled 
and health preserved, we must candidly confess 
we never should have known it. And even yet 
we are somewhat sceptical in relation to its ra- 
tionality, notwithstanding the plausible argu- 
ment which is advanced in support of it, and 
the dexterous manner in which it is handled. 

We are ready to admit, that " the Creator 
of all things could as easily implant this quality 
or principle in the constitution of man, as to 
make him susceptible of being acted upon by 
stimulants." But what advantage will be gain- 
* Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p 86. 



41 

ed thereby? The mere circumstance that the 
Almighty is able to perform any certain thing, 
is no proof that He has actually done it. If it is, 
is it not astonishing that we are white when 
God could as easily have made our skin the 
same colour with the red men of the forest, or 
the sable hue of the sun burnt African ? 

Again, if we go farther, and even admit that 
God actually did " implant this quality or prin- 
ciple in the constitution of man," we cannot 
comprehend how this will prove that disease 
" is calculated to remove the cause by which 
it was produced," unless the constitution of 
man and disease be synonymous terms. 

Such vague and inconclusive reasoning has a 
sure tendency to destroy itself. If disease be 
capable in any of its modifications, of removing 
the cause that produced it, or in other words, 
of effecting its own cure, then, he who directs 
the power of his remedial agents against disease 
should be considered the enemy of the human 
family; because, so far from fulfilling the indi- 
cations of cure, he is only baffling, by pursuing 
such a method of treatment, the efforts that are 
made to perform it. If such be the natural ef- 
fects of disease, according to the principles of 
true pathology, then should all who at present 
practice the healing art be indicted for man- 
slaughter or for murder, since disease is the tar- 



42 

get at which they aim their arrows, whether 
dipped in poison or in balm. It is matter of 
great surprize moreover, that a solitary indivi- 
dual should ever die of disease, if it be possess- 
ed of this tendency; and particularly so after 
the disease has been raging with violence for 
any length of time. Its very violence, one 
would think, w 7 ould add materially to its power 
over " the cause by which it was produced," 
and thereby render recovery doubly sure. The 
man who can receive such an idea, may dis- 
cern much meaning in the declaration of Aber* 
nethey, when he said, though with a different 
design, he would rather know his medicines 
carried off his patients, than that they had be- 
come the victims of the disease. 

Since then this theory will not stand the test 
of a strict examination, but appears flimsy " as 
the spider's most attenuated thread," we are 
obliged to revert, in our search after the cause 
that exerts so salutary an influence over the 
animal economy, or the power by which these 
sanative efforts, are made to the operation of a 
principle of life. 

If all the phenomena attending disease, how- 
soever diversified in their characters they may 
be, are the natural effects of the disease itself, 
there surely can be no necessity for the attend- 
ance of the physician, nor any use in the em- 



43 

ployment of remedies. But that this view of 
these phenomena are incorrect, must strike 
every man of common sense at first sight. It 
is an axiom, that every effect must partake of 
the nature of the cause that produced it; for, 
u how can a good tree bring forth corrupt fruit, 
or an evil tree bring forth good fruit?" Reason- 
ing from this datum we could never account 
philosophically or scientifically for the contra- 
riety of symptoms observable in a single case 
of intermittent fever. 

It is characterized by alternation? of chills 
and febrile paroxysms, varying in the length of 
the intervals according to the type it may as- 
sume. We have no hesitancy in crediting the 
chills to the action of miasmata, or other mor- 
bific matter received into the system, as its spe- 
cific effect; but to what cause shall we assign 
the regular recurrence of the pyrexial symp- 
toms or hot stage? Surely not to the same 
source whence the chill originates, for this 
would be contrary to the axiom to which we 
have just referred. 

The action of morbific matter, whether in- 
troduced by inhalation, salivary solution, or cu- 
taneous absorption, or generated in the system, 
is always productive of obstruction of the vital 
energy, by which coldness is superinduced. This 
coldness is either general, or such as amounts to 



44 

a chilly sensation diffused throughout the sys- 
tem; or local when confined to some particular 
organ or set of organs. We can easily trace 
the origin of such an effect to the operation of 
its peculiar cause, though we should be loth to 
ascribe an effect, which, in itself, is of a directly 
opposite character, to the same cause. Here we 
discover at once the action of two antagonist 
principles; and, as we are compelled to attri- 
bute the coldness to the disease, which stands 
opposed in its very nature to the principle of 
life, we cannot think otherwise than lhat the 
heat or febrile symptoms result from the agency 
of the vital power. 



45 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Life considered as a natural condition or stale* 
The action of atmospheric air in the Lungs. 

We are perfectly aware, that in controvert- 
ing theories, and exposing the fallacy of hypo- 
theses which have been advanced by the learn- 
ed, and are now upheld by the established pre- 
judices of the ignorant, we are hazarding much. 
The little bark of reputation, thus launched 
upon the sea of public opinion, must not only 
breast the heavy surges of argumentative rea- 
soning, but likewise dare the furious gales of 
sneering sarcasm. If she outride the united ef- 
forts of these combined powers, her victorious 
flag will be hailed with joy by millions yet be- 
low the horizon of real existence; but, if she 
sink, it is into the shoreless deep of eternal ob- 
livion. Yet, with truth for our polar star, phi- 
losophy our sails, inquiry our compass and 
perseverance our rudder, we commit ourselves 
to the perilous wave. 

The question has been asked by almost every 
medical writer, " in what does life consist?" 
To this important inquiry the celebrated M. 
Bichat answers, " the aggregate of those func- 



46 

tions which resist death." Yet, notwithstand- 
ing the glaring inconsistency between this defi- 
nition and the theory, that "life is a forced 
state," the latter has been eagerly embraced, 
and is now become the universally prevailing 
doctrine. If there be any principle of life by 
which death is resisted, that principle or power, 
however diffused throughout the various or- 
gans of the animal economy, must necessarily 
be greater than the principle or power of death, 
else the resistance would be easily overcome. 
The effect caused by the predominance of a 
stronger power over a weaker, is surely not a 
forced one. 

We may readily admit with the same learned 
author, that "such is the condition on which 
we live, that every thing around us has a ten- 
dency to produce our dissolution, by the affini- 
ties existing between their atoms, and the atoms 
of which a living body is composed," without 
however compromitting ourselves. The exist- 
ence of extraneous substances, the operation of 
foreign agents, or the occurrence of adventiti- 
ous circumstances, does no! prove that there is 
any innate principle possessed of the same ten- 
dency; on the contrary, it directly supports the 
position we have taken. 

We may illustrate our views by reference to 
the chemical law of simple elective attraction. 



47 

If we present pure potassa to a combination of 
nitric acid and lime, the nitric acid, possessing 
a stronger affinity for the former, leaves the lat- 
ter, and unites with the potassa. Now, the ex- 
istence of this composite substance is not forced, 
but a natural effect, resulting necessarily from 
the law of single elective attraction, or simple 
affinity. Thus the tenacity with which these 
aggregate functions cling to life, and the resist- 
ance they make to death, prove their greater 
affinity (if we may be allowed the expression), 
for the former, and that the latter can super- 
vene only upon an entire reversion of those 
laws and principles which govern the animal 
economy. Even the very last spark of organic 
life must be extinguished before the decomposi- 
tion or putrefaction of the body, which is the 
result of the affinities existing between its 
atoms, and those of foreign substances, can pos- 
sibly occur. Consequently life is not a forced 
state. 

In endeavouring to support this old theory of 
the schools, its advocates have gratuitously as- 
sumed the necessity of " exciting powers 1 ' for 
the continuation of existence. Some of these 
exciting powers are atmospheric air, articles of 
food, whether solid or fluid, &c. But if we 
carefully investigate the philosophy of their 
operation on the human system, we find they 



48 

are rather objects on which the excess of ac- 
tion is spent. 

When the blood, by the systole or contrac- 
tion of the heart, is sent from the right ventri- 
cle, through the pulmonary artery, into the 
lungs, it appears loaded with impure and irri- 
tating particles, the effete or worn out portions 
of the system, which tend to augment the ac- 
tion of the respirative organs. This action 
would increase still more until it amounted to 
an excess, were it not diminished by the inha- 
lation of pure air, or such as contains the due 
proportion of oxygen. The oxygen thus in- 
spired, operates not as an exciting power, but 
as a reducer of action, and a restorer of equili- 
brium. 

This opinion, however novel it may appear, 
is corroborated by facts of almost daily occur- 
rence. In hot weather the atmosphere is con- 
siderably rarefied by the action of the solar 
rays, and its bulk is proportionally enlarged. 
The capacity of the lungs remaining the same, 
they are not capable of inhaling as large a quan- 
tity as they could if the same weight were com- 
pressed into a smaller measure. Hence, for 
want of a sufficiency to reduce their action, it 
is more than ordinarily increased, and the in- 
crease is manifested by a more rapid perform- 
ance of their functions. This accounts for the 



49 

panting of animals in the summer season. If 
oxygen were really an exciting power, as has 
heretofore been believed, its effects should be 
directly the reverse; its abundance should in- 
duce in the lungs a quicker performance of their 
function, and its diminution a sluggish one. 

Again, on being brought into contact with 
the external organs of respiration, the pharynx, 
larynx, trachea, and bronchia, atmospheric air 
receives an addition to its own temperature, 
and consequently subtracts from that of the or- 
gans just mentioned, thereby lessening their ac- 
tion. We cannot, therefore, subscribe to the 
doctrine that oxygen is an exciting power.. 



50 



CHAPTER IX. 

The action of Animal and Vegetable Food on the 
digestive system, 

The reasoning which we pursued in our last 
chapter in regard to the a-ction of oxygen, will 
hold good in relation to the operation of food 
and drink. They, in a similar manner, reduce 
the excessive action of the digestive organs. 
This fact will be more apparent, if we mark 
the difference between the effects produced on 
the system by animal and vegetable diet. 

It has long been customary among medical 
men to proscribe the former in pyrexial and in- 
flammatory disorders^ because of the prevailing 
opinion, that it, acting as a stimulant, would 
aggravate the symptoms. Febrile complaints 
have a constant tendency to the acme of their 
paroxysms. Animal food, participating in the 
properties of human flesh, is more easily assi- 
milated to it, and consequently requires a less 
exertion of the chylifactive functions; and the 
redundancy of vital energy thus produced, in- 
creases the tendency of the disease until it ar- 
rives at its crisis. On the other hand, a vegeta- 
ble diet, requiring a greater effort of the diges- 



51 

tive organs for its assimilation, reduces the ex- 
cessive action, and thus allays, or at least does 
not increase, the pyrexial symptoms. Hence, 
we as Thomsonians, considering fever merely 
as the rising of the vis medicatrix natures, or re- 
storative power of nature, for the expulsion of 
morbific matter, and the disengorgement of ob- 
structed vessels, permit the use of animal food, 
if the appetite craves it, with a view to aid na- 
ture, by giving full play to her tendency to the 
height of the exacerbation. And we may add, 
the success of the practice has confirmed us in 
the truth of the theory. 

Whilst the illustrious Franklin was a jour- 
neyman printer in London, by a rigid absti- 
nence from the stimulating or exciting diet of 
his fellow workmen, he rendered his physical 
powers far superior to theirs. By his free use 
of vegetable food, the excessive action of the 
digestive organs was reduced, an equilibrium 
was maintained, and the proper quantum of 
vital energy diffused throughout the whole 
system. 

This position is further sustained by the pain- 
ful experience of Dr. Brown. When labouring 
under the most excruciating arthritic aiFection, 
conceiving it to originate from plethora, he had 
recourse to a vegetable diet to effect a cure, but 
failed to accomplish his object until he again 
5* 



52 

resorted to a more generous mode of living. 
Now, his abstemious vegetable diet required too 
great an exertion for its digestion and assimila- 
tion, thereby preventing an equalized action of 
the organs. On changing his theory of the cause 
of gout, and ascribing the origin of the disease 
to debility, he returned to the use of animal 
food, which produced the desired effect, not 
however by stimulation, but by favouring the 
action of the digestive powers, and inducing a 
free transmission of the redundancy to the af- 
fected organ, thus enabling it to throw off the 
obstruction which caused the distressing de- 
bility. 

Notwithstanding animal food approaches 
much nearer the nature of human flesh, and 
might therefore be very reasonably supposed 
to be much better adapted to the nourishment 
of mankind than vegetable diet, yet, say the 
editors of the Journal of Health, "Man has 
little inclination to live solely on animal food. 
It is indeed questionable whether he could en- 
joy perfect health on a diet purely of flesh. It 
is well known however that vegetable substan- 
ces, particularly the farinaceous, are fully suf- 
ficient of themselves for maintaining a healthy 
existence.'*'* This fact appears to be totally 
incompatible with the theory that food is a sti- 
♦ Vol. i, p. 277. 



53 

mulant or exciting power, and that an animal 
diet is more so than a vegetable one; but, with 
the doctrine that it is a reducing agent, it is 
perfectly concordant. 

Again, meats which have undergone but 
slight alteration during the culinary process, or 
are what is vulgarly called rare, are considered 
more wholesome than those that are thorough- 
ly done. Yet the former require a longer time, 
and greater effort for their assimilation than the 
latter, because these have their organization 
more completely destroyed. Now, we would 
ask, why are they more wholesome, if it is not 
because they better subserve the purpose of re- 
ducing the action of the digestive organs? 



54 



CHAPTER X. 

The operation of pure water on the animal eco- 
nomy. The pathological action of some of the 
organs. 

It must be on the selfsame principle which 
we advocated in the preceding chapter, that 
water will for a time prolong life, of which we 
have a memorable instance in the history of 
Pomponius Atticus, who, being troubled with* 
a disease of the stomach, determined to destroy 
himself. He was persuaded by Agruppa, his 
son-in-law, to effect his purpose by starvation; 
he was also advised to take a little water for 
the alleviation of the sufferings which might be 
caused by total abstinence from nourishment. 
After passing many days in this manner, con- 
trary to his expectation, death did not ensue; 
but he was cured of his malady* and lived to an 
advanced age. 

But it may be said, the water he used acted 
as an exciting power, by which means the ac- 
tion of the vital power was continued. This 
explanation of its modus operandi might answer 
if it were not for two objections to it. 

First, hot water is more highly stimulating. 



55 

or exciting than cold water, if even the latter 
really does stimulate or excite under any cir- 
cumstances; yet, no one will pretend to say, 
that the former is better fitted for the suste- 
nance of animal life, which certainly would be 
the case if the phenomena of life depended on 
the action of stimuli. Cold water, by being 
taken into the stomach, imbibed by the absorb- 
ents, and carried to the different parts of the 
system, attenuates the fluids which otherwise 
would become viscid, conduces to their freer 
progress through their respective vessels, and 
thus indirectly reduces the excessive action of 
those organs to which it is transmitted, by les- 
sening their friction; or, on being brought into 
immediate contact with the surfaces over which 
it is diffused, directly effects the same reduc- 
tion, by abstracting a portion of that heat on 
which the action is dependent. 

Secondly. Every one that has observed the 
operations of nature must have noticed the fact, 
that the vital action of the digestive system, 
when not reduced by the presence of food in 
the alimentary canal, is always increased until 
the organs appear to be labouring under a fe- 
brile attack. On this account fasting has been 
practised not only as a religious ordinance, but 
also as a means of preserving health and remov- 
ing incipient disease. 



56 

" Stuff a cold and starve a fever," has passed 
into a proverb among almost all classes of so- 
ciety, although latterly the medical world have 
discarded the idea embraced in the first part of 
the adage, as unwise and of evil tendency. 
These gentlemen, by this rejection, have un- 
wittingly declared in favour of Thomsonism, 
however unwilling they may be to allow it. 
On the supposition that the repletory practice 
is beneficial, when there is impaired action of 
the vis vita or power of life, and vice versa, and 
that food is a repletory or exciting power, the 
advice above mentioned must be good; for even 
themselves admit, that cold does retard the 
free exercise of that power. In this case then, 
according to their own theory, repletion is in- 
dicated; yet, with the inconsistency so inti- 
mately interwoven in their creed, they say, to 
w stuff a cold" is wrong. We believe however, 
that the indication, in every instance, is to as- 
sist nature, and that food of any kind is a re- 
ducer of action : abstinence therefore, during an 
attack of cold, may be judiciously recommend- 
ed, for the ostensible purpose of avoiding a re- 
duction of the vital action, and thereby permit- 
ting nature to concentrate all her energies for 
the counteraction and expulsion of disease. 

Hence, from the facts that water actually re- 
duces the quantum of action, and that absti- 



57 

nence from both solids and fluids increases that 
action frequently to an alarming and even fatal 
degree, we cannot believe, that in the case of 
Pomponius Atticus, it operated as a stimu- 
lant or exciting power. 

It appears that a remark of M. Bichat's 
will fully sustain the view we have taken of 
this subject. He says : — " When acute diseases 
are continued for a long time, (hen the fat is 
absorbed, serosity abounds, and the phenomena 
become soon after like those of chronic dis- 
eases. Nevertheless, we must observe that the 
organs most altered, are those in which nutri- 
tion is most active in an healthy state; and, on 
the contrary, those which enjoy only an ob- 
scure vitality, are the least sensibly injured." 
In acute disease, the patients are seldom, if 
ever, allowed a full and generous diet, and the 
vital powers, having nothing on which to spend 
their overplus of action, prey on the organs 
themselves. If food of a generous kind were 
prescribed, that excess of energy would be re- 
duced, the adipose substance unabsorbed, and 
the tendency to serosity counteracted. The 
absorption of the fat indicates clearly increased 
action of the absorbent system; the serosity 
points to a similar condition of the serous mem- 
branes; the changes occurring in those organs 
possessed of active vitality, prove the increase 



58 

of their action; whilst the final assumption of a 
chronic character shows the vis vita to have 
been expended by over action. 

Now, if life be a forced state; if its pheno- 
mena depend on the excitation of stimuli; and 
if the articles of food operate as exciting pow- 
ers, how shall we account for this increase of 
action when their use is proscribed? 



59 



CHAPTER XI. 

Objection answered. The theory sustained by 
an argument from the nature of stimuli. 

An argument, that seems at first view to bear 
with considerable weight against the opinion 
we have advanced- is, that immediately on the 
reception of food into the stomach, there is a 
sensible augmentation of the temperature of the 
body. This augmentation, if indeed it be real, 
cannot surely be placed to the account of the 
stimulus of the food itself, for the stomach 
serves only as a receptacle, in which, by the 
action of the gastric juice, the food is converted 
into chyme. It then passes into the duodenum, 
where, being combined with the bile and pan- 
creatic juice, it becomes chyle. It is then fit 
for the action of the lacteals which receive it 
and pour it into the thoracic duct. Now, if by 
the term nutritious particles, we are to under- 
stand the stimulating or exciting particles, we 
certainly cannot attribute the increase of the 
temperature of the body to the reception of the 
food into the stomach, since the fact is, what- 
ever change is wrought on it there, none of 
these nutritious, stimulating, or exciting parti- 



60 

cles are absorbed until they reach the innumer- 
able lacteals of the duodenum. 

We incline however to the opinion, that this 
increase, apart from that caused by the various 
condiments used in connexion with the com- 
mon articles of food, or in other words, that the 
increase caused by the food itself is merely re- 
lative,, not absolute. 

We have already noticed the fact, that when 
the stomach is entirely deprived of food for any 
length of time, its action, for want of some- 
thing to reduce it, becomes greatly increased, 
until finally it is excessive. During this pro- 
gressive rise of the temperature of the digestive 
organs, the surface and extremities are appa- 
rently chilled. Their coldness however is only 
relative. In reality, they have not lost any 
thing of their actual or positive heat, which re- 
mains stationary; but, when compared with 
the stomach, whose temperature is greatly in- 
creased, because of the want of an object on 
which to spend the excess of its action, their 
warmth appears diminished. But, let an agent 
be presented, which will reduce the action of 
the digestive system, and thereby lessen the 
heat of the organs concerned in the process, 
and immediately the temperature of the sur- 
face and extremities seems to rise in an inverse 
ratio. .Nevertheless, this rise, increase or aug- 



61 

mentation is discovered only when the heat of 
the surface and extremities is considered in its 
relation to that of the alimentary canal. When 
compared with surrounding objects, it is found 
to have remained in statu quo. 

If then there he no actual, but merely an ap- 
parent or relative increase of heat upon the re- 
ception of food into the stomach, and if the 
food, during its stay in that organ, does not give 
out any of its stimulant properties, we are com- 
pelled to consider its action in some other point 
of light than that of an "exciting power." 

It is not merely for the sake of innovation 
that we have explained the modus operandi of 
these agents on the system in a manner differ- 
ing so widely from all our predecessors, but 
simply because their effects are at variance 
with those of stimulants. The action of stimuli 
on the animal economy is always less and less, 
yet the same effect may be again produced by 
an increase of the quantity of the stimulus. But 
this is not the case with food, drink, &c. When 
men advance in age their appetites are more 
easily satiated. The vital energy diminishes in 
an inverse ratio with the increase of years, and 
a smaller amount of aliment will reduce the re- 
dundancy, and maintain an equilibrium of ac- 
tion. How then can we reconcile this fact 
with the supposition that food is an exciting 



62 



power? If this were true, would it not require 
a greater portion of aliment to produce the 
same effect than in the vigour of life ? Reason- 
ing therefore from these premises, we reject 
the inconsistent doctrine that " life is a forced 
state." 



63 



CHAPTER XII. 

Our Theory supported by arguments from the 
primeval state of mankind, and the conditions 
on which we now live. 

It has long been customary for natural phi- 
losophers to discourse on the adaptation of the 
digestive organs of different animals to the dif- 
ferent kinds of aliment on which they subsist. 
They ought, in our opinion, rather to have re- 
marked the infinite wisdom displayed by the 
Deity in providing food for his various crea- 
tures, suited exactly to the differences of their 
conformations and structures; for the food was 
certainly made for the animal. This idea is 
fairly deducible from the language of Holy Writ 
— " And God said, Behold I have given you 
every herb bearing seed, which is upon the 
face of all the earth, and every tree, in the 
which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you 
it shall be for meat."" From these words we 
may draw another argument in favour of our 
views on this subject. 

Those who believe in the degradation of the 
human family by sin, will readily admit that 
the corporeal powers, as well as the mental 



64 

faculties, have suffered in the fall. Now, it ap- 
pears, that while man enjoyed the full exercise 
of this undiminished physical energy, he fed on 
vegetables alone; but, since the depravement 
of his digestive powers he resorts, partially at 
least, to a diet more eupeptic, or susceptible of 
a more easy assimilation, and which, conse- 
quently, will not, during the process of chyli- 
faction, reduce to so great an extent the action 
of the digestive organs. If th& vigour with 
which the functions of life are performed, de- 
pend on the excitation of stimulT, and if animal 
food be more stimulating than vegetable, we 
would naturally expect that man, in his prime- 
val state, drew his vital power from an animal 
diet. But, as this was not the case, to what 
can we ascribe the superior energy of both his 
physical and mental powers, if not to the more 
active operation of an innate principle of life? 
And this principle, in its more active state, re- 
quired an agent calculated to reduce its action 
to a greater extent. 

But it may be said that such an explication 
as this is only shifting the difficulty. If we pur- 
sue the text already quoted a little further, we 
find the position assumed by former theorists is 
involved in more obscurity, and fraught with 
greater absurdity than that which we have ven- 
tured to take. During the time which elapsed 



65 

from the creation of man, to his disregard of 
the divine prohibition, these agents could not 
possibly have operated as exciting powers, be- 
cause being then endowed with immortality, 
he required not extraneous aid for the continu- 
ance or support of life. So that, if after all that 
can be said, there still must remain a difficulty 
it had better be shifted to the proper place, 
than to make a second and greater one, in at- 
tempting to obviate the first 

A very powerful argument against the hy- 
pothesis, that u iife is a forced state," may be 
drawn from the fact, that the period to which 
humui existence extended, even after the in- 
ti eduction of death by sin, has been since 
shortened by n )thing less than the irresistible 
fiat of Omnipotence. According to the Mosaic 
history, when the Lord determined to destroy 
the world by a flood, he also curtailed the days 
of man's life to one hundred and twenty years; 
and we are informed subsequently to that time 
by the Psalmist, that" The days of our years 
are threescore years and ten." So far, then, 
from the human frame having any tendency in 
itself to dissolution, it absolutely require? the 
agency of a supernatural power to produce such 
an effect. 

We are perfectly willing to admit, nay, it 
ghes us pleasure to advocate, the scriptural 
5 



66 

and consolatory doctrine of a preserving Provi- 
dence. Providence, in the preservation of life, 
is both active and passive; active, when he 
wards off those accidents which, contrary to 
the laws of Nature would destroy it; pussive, 
when he merely permits those principles which 
he has already established, to have sway. As 
we have seen, it is the predominance of these 
principles over all others that constitutes exist- 
ence. Therefore, life cannot be a forced state. 

When the author of this work first advanced 
this doctrine, in a lecture, delivered to the 
Louisa and Hanover, (Va.) Thomsonian Bota- 
nic Society, August 21st, 1835, he stood alone. 
Since that time, however, the talented Editor 
of the Thomsonian Recorder, Dr. Curtis, has 
likewise seen the impropriety of calling life a 
forced state. In the columns of his really va- 
luable paper, he has advocated our views of 
this proposition, and, as an argument in his edi- 
torial annotations on a communication from T. 
Ingersoll, M. D., is very appropriate, we take 
the liberty of transcribing it. 

u If the life of man is forced, " says Dr. C, 
" so is that of brutes, and of vegetables; for, if 
animal life is forced by food and stimuli, so is 
vegetable life forced by heat, moisture, earth, 
salts, &c, without which a plant cannot grow 
any more than a man can live without eating. 



67 

The question then arises — Is it natural or artifi- 
cial for a plant to grow f If it is artificial or 
forced, we ask, what is natural 1 Nature, says 
philosophy, is whatever is opposed to art. Art 
is the ingenuity or contrivance of man. Now 
we ask, by what ingenuity or contrivance does 
man produce animal or vegetable life? It is the 
nature of plants to grow, and of man to live; 
therefore, life is not a forced but a natural 
state." — See Thorn. Rex. vol. iv; p. 237. 



6* 



PATHOLOGY 



3 



OR 



THE THEORY OF DISEASE. 



71 



CHAPTER I. 

Dr. Thomson? s Theory of Disease. Cold the 
universal cause. 

It is indispensably necessary to a correct 
knowledge of the method of curing disease, to 
ascertain the precise nature of its cause; for, an 
error in the theory may lead to an error in 
practice, which, in its turn, may prove as de- 
structive as the disease for which it is instituted. 
Hence the great uncertainty and inefficiency 
which has so long been characteristic of the 
popular practice of medicine in all ages, and in 
all countries. 

The next peculiar doctrine of the Thomso- 
nian System which demands our attention is, 
that " obstruction is disease." In this, as well 
as in every other part of his theory, Dr. Thom- 
son has evinced a degree of knowledge that 
does not fall to the lot of every man to possess. 
In our remarks on this interesting subject, we 
will notice the cause and the nature of disease, 
with some of the inferences that may be legiti- 
mately deduced from the whole. 

In regard to the cause of disease, Dr. Thom- 



72 

son himself remarks in his chapter on life and 
motion: — " Without a due proportion of heat 
inward and outward, or outward and inward, 
there is no animal motion — no animal life." 
D. Eberle seems to have had some concep- 
tion of the truth of this remark, for he observes, 
" cold is perhaps the most common and fre- 
quent of all the remote causes of disease in the 
temperate latitudes." On another occasion, in 
lecturing on this topic, we took the liberty to 
say, " since disease is opposed to life it is inci- 
pient death; consequently, what will produce 
one, will cause also the other. What produces 
death? The abstraction of the vital heat. Cold 
then, in our humble opinion, must be the cause, 
either remote or proximate, of all disease." 

It may appear strange, perhaps, that we 
should hazard our medical reputation by advo- 
cating the doctrine of the unity of the cause, as 
well as of the disease itself; yet, we candidly 
avow our belief, that the cause of every devia- 
tion from health is a reduction of the natural 
heat, on which the phenomena of life depends. 
To form a correct judgment of the propriety of 
this belief, it will be necessary to examine the 
modus operandi of the principle of life in health. 

In addition to what we have already said, with 
reference to the union of the vital principle 
with organized matter for the vivifaction of 



73 

the body, we may here say, that without a due 
proportion of each of the constituent princi- 
ples of living matter, there can be no health; 
and that the only condition in which life can 
remain, and the functions of the animal eco- 
nomy be nevertheless performed in a manner 
which is contrary to the laws that govern per- 
fect health, is a reduction of the vital principle. 
Every other condition is in perfect accordance 
with those laws. These functions may be per- 
formed with greater vigour, and the vital heat 
may be in excess for the time being; yet, nei- 
ther the more vigorous performance of the one, 
nor the excess of the other, constitutes disease, 
because the phenomena occur only upon the 
operation of some cause tending to the destruc- 
tion of life. Therefore, they are in accordance 
with the laws of health, which are established 
not only for its preservation, but also for its re- 
storation. 

The apothegm, "A house divided against it- 
self cannot stand," which fell from the lips of 
the Son of man, contains a sentiment whose 
truth is as firmly established as the pillars of 
Heaven. Every simple principle has but one 
mode of action, and cannot, therefore, in the 
very nature of things, produce a contrariety of 
effects. Hence, when we discover that the 
principle of life, which we know operates as a 



74 

preservative of health, produces febrile and in- 
flammatory symptoms during an attack of di- 
sease, we are compelled to consider that a 
healthy action. If this then be the peculiar 
mode of action, and the effect of the principle 
of life, disease, being in its nature diametrically 
opposed to this principle, must necessarily be 
produced by a reduction of the natural heat. 
Cold therefore is the universal cause, remote 
or proximate of the disease. 



75 



CHAPTER II, 

Morbific matter introduced by pulmonary inha* 
lation and cutaneous absorption. 

In the preceding chapter we advanced the 
opinion that cold, or to speak more scientifi- 
cally, the reduction of that heat on which the 
perfect performance of the vital functions is de- 
pendent, is the remote or proximate cause of 
all disease, whatever be its peculiar modifica- 
tion. Other causes may operate on the animal 
economy in such a manner as to give a tendency 
to a derangement of those functions; yet such 
derangement can ensue only when other causes 
are assisted in their deleterious influence by 
the unhealthful action of cold. The indulgence 
of the exciting or depressing passions, injuries, 
&c, may predispose to disease, but such is the 
nature of the human constitution, that this pre- 
disposition would soon be counteracted, were 
it not for obstruction of the circulation, arising 
from the constrictive power of cold. 

Our present inquiries will lead us more im- 
mediately to notice the introduction of morbific 
matter, after which we shall consider the rea- 
son of its retention in the system. 



76 

Extraneous particles noxious to the living 
power, and productive of disease, may be in- 
troduced into the system either by pulmonary 
inhalation, cutaneous absorption, or by salivary 
solution, or it may be generated in the system. 
We shall confine ourselves to the two first means 
of introduction in this chapter. 

In speaking of the absorbent system, Dr. 
Horner says, " With the exception of an im- 
perfect observation of some of these vessels in 
the mesentary of a goat, by Herophilus and 
Erasistratus, 280 years before Christ, during 
the reign of the Ptolemys in Egypt, what is 
known of them is entirely a modern acquisition 
in anatomy. In 1564, Eustachius discovered 
the thoracic duct of a horse, which, in the ig- 
norance of its use, he called vena alba thoracis 
[white vein of the thorax.] This fact remained 
insulated and almost forgotten for seventy 
years. In 1622, Asellius discovered the absorb- 
ents of the mesentery, and in the discussions 
consequent thereto, the original observation of 
Herophilus and Erasistratus, was raised from 
an oblivion of nineteen centuries, to be again 
brought to light and admired. Asellius seems 
to have understood that the absorbents of the 
mesentery collect the chyle from the intestines, 
but his knowledge ceased there, for he thought 
that they discharged into the vena portanim. 



7? 

In 1634, Weslingius saw the thoracic duct again; 
and, in 1649, ascertained that the chyliferous 
vessels of Asellius terminated in it. In 1650, 
Claus Rudbeck, a young man pursuing his ana- 
tomical studies in Leyden, saw first the lym- 
phatic vessels of the liver, and in a few months 
afterwards injected similar ones in the loins, in 
the thorax, in the groins, and in the armpits. 
Thomas Bartholine, a teacher of great reputa- 
tion in those days, in a dissertation, dated in 
1652, claimed for himself the priority of these 
observations, and from the obscurity of Rud- 
beck, enjoyed for some time the merit of them. 
In 1654, Rudbeck published and set forth his 
own pretensions with such force, that he finally 
triumphed over his antagonists, but not until 
the whole world of anatomy had been set in 
commotion, one party being for the professor, 
and the other for the pupil; and many bloody 
strifes having arisen between the students of 
the respective sides. In 1653, Jolyff, a cele- 
brated anatomist of London, proclaimed his 
own rights to this warmly contested honour, 
but the period being rather late, his name is 
scarcely associated with the history of these 
feuds. Almost a century then passed before 
there were many additions to the knowledge of 
those times. After which great contributions 
were made by Dr. A. Munro, Dr. W. Hunter, 



78 

Hewson, Cruikshank, but chiefly by the cele- 
brated Mascagni, who, having imagined finely 
pointed instruments of glass for executing his 
injections of these vessels, succeeded in de- 
monstrating them in almost every part of the 
body, excepting the spinal marrow, the brain, 
the ball of the eye, and the placenta. In some 
of these parts, however, he says he has seen 
them, and he speaks confidently of their exist- 
ence without exception every where, even in 
the enamel of the teeth.* 

These vessels, studding both the external 
and internal surfaces of the body, serve as con- 
ductors of those particles intended for the nu- 
trition of the system. In the performance of 
their function of absorption, they will readily 
form particles of a destructive character, as ac- 
tual experiments have fully proved. Since 
the lungs next to the liver is most plentifully 
supplied with these vessels, and since their sur- 
face is brought into immediate contact with 
the air during respiration, it will be obvious 
that pulmonary inhalation presents a ready 
medium for the introduction of morbific mat- 
ter, whilst the absorbents afford it conveyance 
to the thoracic duct, whence, by means of the 
circulation, it is transmitted to every part of 
the system. The inspiration of a contaminated 
* Horner's Special Anat. vol. ii. p. 294. 



79 

atmosphere, in which the effluvia of animal or 
vegetable decomposition are floating, is a pro- 
lific source of derangement of the vital func- 
tions. Hence the various febrile affections so 
prevalent in low marshy countries. 

In regard to the existence of cutaneous lym- 
phatics, notwithstanding the ancient anatomists 
conceived that they were only a continuation 
of the arteries, intended to reconvey the se- 
rous portions of the blood to the heart, "it has 
been put beyond doubt by the observations and 
tnjections of M. Lauth."* Their absorbing 
powers have now been almost univerally ad- 
mitted. We may discover this function fully 
demonstrated in the introduction of mercury 
and other medical agents, when externally ap- 
plied in the form of ointments, liniments and 
lotions, and in the increased secretion of urine 
in persons immersed in water. It is by means 
of the cutaneous absorbents that the morbific 
matter of contagious disorders is introduced 
into the system when communicated by the 
touch. 

* Horner's Special Anatomy, vol. ii. p. 294. 



80 



CHAPTER III. 

Morbific Matter introduced by means of the Sa- 
liva. Generation in the System. 

That the solution of morbific matter by the 
saliva, and its passage into the stomach, may 
be frequently the means of introducing di- 
sease, seems very probable. We take the li- 
berty of presenting to our readers another quo- 
tation from the Thomsonian Recorder. 

" The following preservative against infec- 
tion, or the deleterious qualities of a contami- 
nated atmosphere, is extracted from an ancient 
record of philosophical transactions. However, 
the subject is somewhat important, and among 
the reflecting, will prompt their inquiring 
minds to a more satisfactory investigation. ' Be 
the infection of pestilential fears [fevers?] what 
they may, either seminal, insectuous, vermicu- 
lar or gaseous, it probably enters the system 
through the medium of the saliva or spittle into 
the stomach. ' So says a late writer. The opi- 
nion has been thought by many to be correct, 
while some have doubted. The sentiment ap- 
pears however to be supported with a tolerable 
degree of plausibility. We have not time to 



81 

enter minutely into the subject. We shall only 
give the subjoined article as we find it under 
the general title of u A Universal Preservative 
against Infection.'" By J. J. W. Dobrzensky, 
Professor of Philosophy and Physic. — Prague, 
1680. 

This Universal Preservative is this: — That 
whoever converses with patients affected with 
any disease whatever, if he would preserve him- 
self from infection, must be sure, so long as he 
abides within the sphere of their steam, never 
to swallow his own spittle, but to spit it out, for 
he conceives that to be the part which first and 
most easily imbibes the infection; and, by that 
swallowed, the infection is carried into the 
stomach, when it works those dismal and fatal 
effects. 

u The infection of pestilential fevers," he ob- 
serves, " proceeds from a seminal ferment, 
which is emitted by the patient in the form of 
steam, into the encompassing air, and so in- 
fects all things within a certain sphere of dis- 
tance." 

" This drawn into the mouth by the breath 
is apt to infect the saliva or spittle, which being 
swallowed, infects the stomach, and so the rest 
of the body; but [to] spit out, frees the body 
from infection." 

On these principles our author conceives, 
6 



82 

that strong-smelling and strong-tasting substan- 
ces, kept in the mouth and chewed, to promote 
spitting, are of very good and necessary use for 
physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, nurses, &c, 
whose professional business frequently puts 
them under the necessity of being in exposed 
situations attending the sick. 

When the plague took its last general range 
in London, it has been intimated that smokers 
and chewers of tobacco were seldom attacked 
with the complaint. No doubt the Professor 
of Prague would have said, that their extraor- 
dinary exemption from the common calamity 
should be ascribed to those persons spitting 
more profusely than others. Probably, if any 
of these tobacco users were infected, he would 
have attributed their misfortune to the filthy 
practice of some smokers and chewers, who 
have strength of stomach continually to swal- 
low all their spittle. 

Most persons have noticed, that whenever 
any strong offensive smell arises from filthy, in- 
fected or infectious places, how suddenly na- 
ture prompts to eject the spittle, and then cast 
off the first intrusions of contagion. In passing 
through an atmosphere laden with the offensive 
exhalations of vegetable and animal substances, 
in a state of putrefactive decomposition, every 
person of delicate sensibility, whose feelings 



83 

are not measurably brutalized by filthy habits, 
or senses impaired by disease, will always 
commence spitting. This is an index nature 
has placed on our road that kindly points the 
way to safety.* 

This extract may afford the practitioner of 
medicine some valuable ideas respecting the 
prevention of the spread of infectious disease; 
but the design of its introduction in this place, 
is to show that morbific matter, arising from 
the putrefaction of animal or vegetable substan- 
ces, or from the exhalations of infected per- 
sons, may find its way into the system by be- 
ing dissolved in the saliva and swallowed. And 
from the almost universal prevalence of de- 
rangement of the digestive organs, we incline 
to the opinion that this is the most frequent 
means of the introduction of such morbific 
matter. 

Under somepeculiar circumstances, ofwhich 
however we do not know the true character, 
foreign particles introduced either by pulmo- 
nary inhalation, cutaneous absorption, or sali- 
vary solution, seem to act peculiarly on the 
glands of an organ or set of organs, and some- 
times on the glands of the whole system gene- 
rally, powerfully irritating them, and inciting 
them to the secretion of a vitiated, poisonous 
* Thomsonian Recorder, vol, ii. p. 206. 



84 

matter, capable of self propagation. Thus, 
particles which are not in themselves actually 
poisonous, may nevertheless become the gene- 
rators in the systom itself of poisonous glandu- 
lar secretions, which are characteristic of all 
contagious affections. 

We cannot account for this vitiated condi- 
tion of the glandular secretions, without pre- 
supposing the presence of some vitiating cause. 
This cause too must be extraneous, for the laws 
of the animal economy will always induce a 
healthy performance of all the organic and vi- 
tal functions, unless counteracted by the influ- 
ence of foreign agents. 



85 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Exhalents^ Expulsion of Morbific Mailer. 
Action of Cold. 

Although we see that the inlets of morbific 
matter are numerous, there is nevertheless pro- 
vided a natural means of egress or expulsion. 
A set of vessels has been supposed to exist for the 
special purpose of carrying off all foreign parti- 
cles, though it is true their existence has not yet 
been fully established. Boerhaave, Haller, 
and Bichat, are among those who believe in 
the existence of the exhalents; while it has 
been denied by Mascagni, Prochaskt, and 
Richerand. Dr. Wm. E. Horner coincides 
with the latter gentlemen in opinion, and deems 
these vessels merely supposititious. But whe- 
ther there really be a separate and distinct set 
of vessels provided for the performance of this 
function or not, it is sufficiently evident that the 
process of exhalation is carried on by some 
means or another. Dr. Horner ascribes both 
absorption and exhalation to the lymphatic 
system. 

But, on the supposition that the absorbents 
perform this double function, the reasons for 



80 

believing in the natural expulsion of morbific 
matter remain the same. 

Whatever be the kind or character of those 
vessels, by means of which exhalation is car- 
ried on, we discover, that in the exercise of 
this function, the effete or worn out particles 
of the system are thrown off: and if we can 
attribute to the absorbents the vital power of 
discrimination between nutritive and effete 
particles, we may surely allow them the like 
power of discrimination between healthful and 
morbific matter. Therefore, it is rational to 
suppose, that whenever foreign particles, tend- 
ing to the destruction of the organism of the 
body, or to the deterioration of ihe animal flu- 
ids, are introduced, whether by pulmonary in- 
halation, cutaneous absorption, or salivary so- 
lution, nature immediately prompts to their 
ejection, either by means of distinct exhalents, 
or through the absorbent system. 

But since nature has provided appropriate 
vessels or organs for the performance of all her 
corresponding functions, as for instance, arte- 
ries for the transmission of the blood from the 
heart to the remotest parts of the system, and 
veins for its return, we incline to the opinion, 
that she has not been less careful in regard to 
the exhalents; the more so when we take into 
the account the greater regularity and constancy 
with which exhalation is performed. 



87 

Thi3 opinion moreover is strengthened by 
the consideration, that if exhalation were per- 
formed by the absorbents, the introduction of 
morbific matter could not endanger the health, 
since it could not be admitted except when the 
lymphatics were in the full exercise of their ap- 
propriate functions; and this very circumstance 
would necessarily facilitate its expulsion. — 
Again, if the lymphatic system were so deranged 
as to hinder the ejection of noxious particles, 
they would likewise be incapacitated for the 
process of absorption; consequently morbific 
matter could not be introduced. 

Since every part of the system is exposed or 
liable to attacks of cold, it will be obvious that 
the exhalents may also feel its pernicious influ- 
ence, and becoming constricted may be pre- 
vented from that speedy expulsion of noxious 
matter, to which nature in a healthy state al- 
ways prompts. Hence cold, or the reduction 
or diminution of the vital heat may very ration- 
ally be supposed to be the remote or proximate 
cause of all disease, either by favouring the re- 
tention of morbific matter in the system, or in 
the absence of such matter, by producing ef- 
fects equally subversive of the laws of the ani- 
mal economy. 

When cold attacks the cutaneous exhalents, 
it closes the mouths of these minute vessels; the 



88 

watery particles which otherwise would pass 
off in the form of vapour or insensible perspira- 
tion are retained, and gathering together in the 
cellular tissues, a dropsical diathesis super- 
venes. When the capillary blood vessels are 
exposed to its action, they become so much 
constricted as to obstruct the return of the ar- 
terial blood into the veins, thereby predispos- 
ing to hemorrhage from the small, and aneu- 
rism in the larger arteries, or local inflamma- 
tion in the organ where the arteries anastomose 
or unite with the veins. When it seats itself or* 
the lungs, pulmonary transpiration is prevented,, 
and insidious consumption tixes his envenomed 
fangs on his unsuspecting victim. If the lym- 
phatic system labour under the effect of cold, 
the constriction of the mouths of the absorb- 
ents occasions congestion of the organ. Hence 
the various affections of the liver, heart, peri- 
cardium, diaph agm, kidneys, stomach, &c. 

Thus we discover we are not under the ne- 
cessity of supposing a plurality of causes, in or- 
der to account rationally for the many effects 
of disease. Whatever be their type or charac- 
ter, they are all the offspring of one common 
parent. 



89 

CHAPTER V. 

Dr. Brown* s Theory of Disease considered. 

The nature of disease has been differently 
described by different medical writers. We 
will first examine the theories of the two most 
prominent author?, and then compare them 
with that of Dr. Thomson, that the reader may 
be the better able to decide on their respective 
merits. 

Dr. Brown considered debility, either direct 
or indirect, as disease; but, in our opinion, the 
effect of disease is here mistaken for disease it- 
self. If there be a sufficiency of vital heat in 
any organ, the tone of that organ must remain 
unimpaired. Cold produces obstruction of the 
circulation, thereby preventing the organ or 
the system from relieving itself of morbific mat- 
ter, and debility is superinduced. 

A healthy vital action depends on the regu- 
lar diffusion of the vital heat through the sys- 
tem by means of the circulation of the blood. 
While the latter function is properly perform- 
ed, the action of the different organs will be 
sufficiently great. To say the circulation will 
pot proceed when the organ is debilitated, is to 



90 

transfer the peculiar functions of the heart and 
arteries to the whole system generally. The 
motion of the blood is secured by two forces 
only, viz: — The propulsive power of the heart 
and arteries, and the syphonic force of the heart 
exerted in the dilatation of the right auricle. 
These two powers, we conceive, acting syn- 
chronously are sufficient of themselves to con- 
tinue a regular circulation without the inter- 
vention of other aid. The syphonic force to 
which we allude may be illustrated by the ac- 
tion of a common syringe. 

If the pipe of one of these instruments be 
placed in a bowl of water, and the piston 
drawn upward, a complete vacuum would be 
formed, were it not for the ru h of the water 
afterthe piston. In like manner in the diastole 
of the heart, the principle of suction comes into 
operation, by means of which the blood is re- 
turned from the surface and extremities through 
the veins to the heart, to be again sent to every 
part of the system by the propelling power of 
the left ventricle and arteries during their con- 
traction. That these two powers are sufficient 
for the continuance of the circulation is demon- 
strated by the fact, that though the veins are 
possessed of contractility, they are neverthe- 
less very slightly, if at all elastic, and therefore 
can exert but small influence in the perform- 
ance of this function. 



91 

From this then it will he evident — First, 
That debility or diminished vital action cannot 
occur so long as there is a regular and suffieient 
supply of vital energy on which that action is 
dependent. 

Secondly, That the supply of vital energy 
must be regular and sufficient, so long as the 
circulation, by means of which that energyls 
diffused throughout the system, remains free 
and unobstructed. And, 

Thirdly, That therefore the loss of vital en- 
ergy and consequent debility are only the ef- 
fects of obstruction. 



92 

CHAPTER VI. 

Dr. Rushes Theory of Disease examined. 

The second theory proposed for the consi- 
deration of the medical world in modern days 
is that of Dr. Rush, who maintained that mor- 
bid excitement is disease. This however, in 
our opinion, has as little philosophy in it as that 
we have just examined. 

We have seen, in the course of the preced- 
ing remarks, that there is only one cause of di- 
sease, and that cause is the reduction or dimi- 
nution of the vital heat, on the proper quantity 
and equal distribution of which the healthy 
performance of the various functions depends. 
We have also seen, that no principle has more 
than one mode of action, and must consequent- 
ly, in every instance, produce precisely simi- 
lar phenomena when acting on the same kind 
of matter. It is equally certain, that when the 
operation of any principle is suspended, its ef- 
fect must cease, because an insulated principle 
cannot produce any effect whatever. Cold 
acts in perfect harmony with the law of inor- 
ganic contractility, and obstruction necessarily 
follows. Hence, if in disease there is any ex- 



93 

citement at all, it does not result from the ope- 
ration of cold. 

The only circumstance which, in health, 
seems to favour the idea that cold may, in some 
instances, be productive of excitement is, that 
the affusion of cold water throws over the body 
a delightful glow or flush. Jt is from the healthy 
that we are te reason concerning the patholo- 
gical phenomena. The latter must arise from 
the action of some other cause than that which 
produces the former. 

Now, if we inquire into the cause of the glow 
we have alluded to, we find that it is not the 
coldness of the water, but the operation of the 
conservative vital principle, which stands diame- 
trically opposed to cold. We have before remark- 
ed, that whenever there exists in the system any 
thing possessed of a tendency to depress or 
obstruct the vital action, the principle of life or 
the vital heat is immediately aroused for its ex- 
pulsion. And since cold, whenever and by 
whatever means applied, has a direct tendency 
to produce an obstruction, and if continued, a 
total cessation if the vital action, the excite- 
ment or glow consequent on the affusion of cold 
water, must be attributed, in the absence of 
any other cause to which we may rationally 
ascribe it, to the reaction of the vital heat. 

The propriety of this position may be more 



94 

clearly discerned, if we take into the account, 
that when cold affusions are used for the pre- 
servation or restoration of health, they are ge- 
nerally succeeded by the process of rubbing or 
active exercise; either of which, under any cir- 
cumstances, is naturally calculated to increase 
the action or excitement. 

We think enough has been said to satisfy 
every unbiased mind, that the excitement ob- 
servable in so many modifications of disease, is 
not produced by the same cause that produces 
the pathological phenomena, but is, on the 
other hand, the counter effort of nature. 

If there be any principle implanted in the 
constitution of man, whose action, when there 
is no derangement of the vital functions, tends 
to the preservation of health and the continu- 
ance of life, the operation of that principle 
must always be healthful, because it cannot 
possibly have more than one mode of action, 
or produce more than one kind of effects. The 
principle of life in the exercise of its powers 
during health, produces a salutary excitement, 
and this effect must invariably, in a greater or 
less degree, follow its operation, and partake 
of its salutary nature. The excitement, there- 
fore, whether it be violent or slight, cannot in 
itself be disease, nor can it be morbid, or par- 
take of the detrimental character of disease. 



95 



CHAPTER VII. 

Dr. Thomsons Iheory. Unity of Disease. Iden- 
tity of Disease and Obstruction. 

Dr. Thomson, in pursuing his medical inqui- 
ries, laid aside speculative reasoning and hypo- 
thetical theories, and studied Nature as she 
is. His observations of the manner in which 
she acted for the preservation of health, as well 
as the effects of disease on the human system, 
led him to the conclusion that obstruction is 
disease. 

The remedies he exhibited were calculated 
to raise the natural heat to its proper standard, 
to equalize the circulation, to remove obstruc- 
tions, to expel morbific matter of every kind, 
and to restore the tone of the suffering organs. 
These indications were fulfilled and his patients 
were well. Thus every circumstance tended 
to confirm him in his theory. 

The unity of disease may first be proved by 
the modus operandi of lis cause. Cold, we have 
seen in another chapter, is the universal cause 
of disease, whatever be the peculiarities attend- 
ing it. It may indeed be variously modified by 
circumstances, but were it not for the constric- 



96 

tive power of cold, no morbific matter could 
remain in the system long enough to do it de- 
triment or injury, inasmuch as such matter 
could not be assimilated, and would soon be 
naturally expelled through (he proper emuncto- 
ries or excreting vessels provided for its egress. 

If every principle requires something else on 
which to act, or by which to be acted on, be- 
fore it can produce phenomena of any kind, it 
may be rationally inferred, that upon the ab- 
straction of the vital heat on which the vital ac- 
tion depends, that action must be obstructed. 
If every principle produces, in all cases, an ef- 
fect partaking of its own nature, then cold must 
produce obstruction in every instance; and if 
the action of cold produces disease, then ob- 
struction is disease, for both are the result of 
one cause; therefore, disease is a unit, and that 
unit is obstruction. 

Another argument in favour of the unity of 
disease, may be drawn from the effects of the 
Thomsonian medicines. We know our oppo- 
nents deride this method of reasoning, but we 
are willing to abide by the decision of honest 
men, if themselves do not in fact pursue the 
fame method. The only reason which can be 
assigned for the continual incongruity of their 
reports is, that their remedies being so uncon- 
genial with the principle of life, and so equivo- 



9? 

t:al in their operation, are constantly producing 
in the hands of different practitioners effects 
and phenomena as discordant as multiplied. 
Yet every one demands universal assent to the 
peculiar theory he may advance, because, for- 
sooth he has tried certain remedies which re- 
sulted in a cure. 

Ill supporting our views, then, by reasoning 
from the effects of the Thomsonian medicines, 
we ask no more than what others do. But we 
possess this decided advantage: all our argu- 
ments derived from this source, perfectly har- 
monize with each other, though advanced by 
different persons, and under different circum- 
stances. 

The one indication fulfilled by the exhibi- 
tion of our remedies is, to assist Nature^ though 
it may be by processes differing somewhat in 
their character. Since Nature relies solely on 
the operation of the vital heat for the counter- 
action ofdisease, we attempt to raise that heat, 
until by its action all morbific matter is expelled 
from the systetn, and the exhausted energies 
restored to their wonted strength. These ef- 
fects are never controlled simply by the parti- 
cular type or modification the disease may as- 
sume. In every case in which Thomsonian 
medicines are administered, and which is cura- 
ble by human means, they follow, and the ra» 



98 

ging power of disease is subdued. These are 
facts, and facts too that afford us an irrefraga- 
ble argument in support of the unity of disease, 
and the identity of disease and obstruction. 



THERAPEUTIC 



OR THE 



SCIENCE OF CURING DISEASE. 



101 



CHAPTER I. 

Therapeutical Science should be in accordance 
with Physiology and Pathology. The indica- 
tion of Disease. Stimulants* 

In establishing a system of therapeutics or 
method of treating disease, it is necessary to 
have continual reference to physiology and pa- 
thology, in order, first, that the remedial agents 
employed may not counteract the beneficial ef- 
forts which Nature may make for the restora- 
tion of health : and secondly, that those medi- 
cines may accomplish the objects of the cura- 
ble process. That the Thomsonian system of 
medical practice is admirably adapted to pro- 
duce these desirable results, abundant evidence 
is afforded by the nature and effects of the re- 
medies prescribed. 

The physiological doctrines to be remem- 
bered are, that heat is life, and that this princi- 
ple ever acts for the preservation of existence. 
The pathological principles are, that disease is 
a unit, and that unit is obstruction. These te- 
nets have been so firmly established in the pre- 
ceding part of this volume, as to warrant us in 



102 

the declaration, that the exhibition of remedies 
acting in unison with their requisitions, or, in 
other words, which will increase the vital heat, 
remove obstructions, and restore the natural 
tone, will fully accomplish the object of medi- 
cal science. Let us then institute an inquiry 
into the nature of the Botanic medicines, and 
see whether these effects are produced by 
them. 

The first indication (to increase the vital 
heat) should be fulfilled, if at all, by the use of 
stimulants. These, and these only, possess the 
property or power to aid the principle of life. 
Sir Astley Cooper, in his " Treatment of In- 
flammation," states, that the sudden application 
of cold for a short time is highly stimulating. 
We have already attempted an explication of 
the real cause of the glow consequent on the af- 
fection of cold water, viz : the efforts of the 
vis medicatrix nalurce, or restorative power of 
nature, to counteract the sedative effect of cold. 
In addition we may here subjoin, that although 
there even were no actual increase of the vital 
heat for this purpose, yet the action of cold 
closes the mouths i f the cutaneous exhalents, 
and thus that portion of this principle (heat) 
still remaining is prevented further expenditure 
from the process of perspiiation. 

Nature, however, does not stand stationary 



103 

or passive, but according to the laws that go- 
vern her operations, proceeds immediately to 
the generation of a fresh supply of animal heat. 
If the sensation of heat depends on the action 
of caloric, how the abstraction or reduction of 
this principle can produce that sensation we 
cannot comprehend. Verily, in the language 
of Sir Astley, " this appears like [is it not 
really ?] contradiction. " Hence the operation 
of cold, whether transient or continued, can ne- 
ver in itself subserve the purpose of stimula- 
tion, though it is no doubt useful in toning up 
the system after too great relaxation of the 
muscular fibre, by favouring the inorganic con- 
tractility. 

But even if we admit that cold does act 
as an indirect or mediate stimulant, we would 
not prescribe its use to meet the first indication 
of disease, since this obviously requires direct 
stimuli, or such as will immediately increase 
the vital heat. 



104 

CHAPTER II. 

Stimulayits should be pure and diffusive. 

In the second place, in many of the stimu- 
lants in general use, so many different princi- 
ples are combined, that they are impure and 
consequently objectionable. They frequently 
require an exhibition of correctives along with 
them. In fulfilling the first indication, it be- 
hoves the intelligent practitioner to select such 
articles as will best answer the end proposed, 
without producing any other effects which 
may prove prejudical. The operation of differ- 
ent principles combined in one remedy will 
frequently induce results neither anticipated 
nor desired. 

A careful examination of the Thomsonian 
stimulants has led both friends and foes to de- 
clare them the purest known. Numbers one, 
two and six, act as powerful stimulants, with- 
out any of the evil effects of ardent spirits or 
alcoholic liquors, and without injuring the finest 
tissue of the body. We can therefore recom- 
mend them with a degree of confidence not to 
be reposed in any other stimuli. 

Another advantage not to be overlooked is. 



105 

that the Thom^oman stimuli are all diffusive 
This is of no small import tnce when we re- 
member, that a local specific must of necessity 
be a general poison. Those remedies whose 
action is confined exclusively to one organ, or 
to one set of or^a.is, will, to a greater or Jess 
extent, produce derangement in ever) part of 
the system, on winch the) do not operate bene- 
ficially; and the injury thus sustained is fre- 
quently more to be dreaded than the disease for 
which they were given. Even if the patient 
recover from the original a tack, he is perhaps 
the miserable victim of some chronic affection 
for life. Witness, for one n oment, the horrid 
effects consequent on the use of the various 
preparations of mercury, antimony, arsenic, 
and a host of other articles eqnahv deleterious 
in their nature, and then sa\ if this opinion is 
unfounded or untrue. 

But it is our conviction that a local stimi lant 
is never indicated; for, though the disease may 
manifest itself under a local form, such is the 
intimate sympathy existing b< tween the differ- 
ent parts of the whole economy, that ail suffer 
in some degree with the part afflicted. Diffu- 
sive or general stimuli should therefore be used 
in every case. 

It moreover frequently happens, to the great 
mortification of the medical practitioner, that 



106 

the vantage ground which has been obtained, is 
lost from (he simple circumstance, that the sa- 
lutary effects of the stimuli exhibited are easily 
dissipated. It will therefore be obvious, that 
remedies combining the qualities referred to 
above, with permanency or durability of effect, 
will prove exceedingly useful in repelling the 
inroads of disease. Perhaps no article can be 
found hi the whole materia medica, possessed 
of properties so permanently stimulant as Num- 
ber two. 

How much more rational then is that prac- 
tice which will thus answer the first indication, 
than those antiphlogistic or depleting mean9 
usually resorted to in febrile attacks? The very 
first anil main object should be to aid Nature 
in her efforts, because the certainty of cure de- 
pends ureatly on such a. course. Now, how 
does Nature strive to counteract disease '{ By 
rous'-n-: the vital heat. If this be the principle 
on which Nature acts in the exercise of her 
conservative powers, we should likewise en- 
deavour, by all means, to increase that heat; to 
do which there is nothing better calculated 
than the direct, pure, diffusive, and permanent 
stimuli of Dr. Thomson- 



107 



CHAPTER III. 

The second Indication. Relaxation. Vapour 

Bath. 

The second object of the curative process is 
the removal of obstructions. Two things are 
here to be kepi in view : — First, the relaxation 
of vessels constricted by the action of cold; and 
Secondly, the expulsion of morbific mailer. 

It will at once Strike the reader, thai the first 
is considerably promoted by the exhibition of 
stimuli. It will be remembered that the con- 
striction of vessels originates from the reduc- 
tion or abstraction of the vital heat. Any me- 
dicine therefore that will increase this princi- 
ple, without detriment to the system, must ne- 
cessarily have a tendency to produce relaxa- 
tion, thereby affording a ready passage to any 
morbific matter thai may have been retained by 
the contraction of the different c-xcretories. 
But, as a very valuable, and in many rjises an 
absolutely indispensable, adjunct or auxiliary 
to the stimulants we use the vapour bath, which 
it is well known has a powerful influence in 
diminishing the tension of the muscular fibre. 
We think a remark of Sir Astlky Cooper 



108 

will fully sustain this mode of practice. In the 
lecture we quoted before, " Treatment of In- 
flammation, " speaking of the etfects of heat and 
moisture combined, he says : " The application 
of heat alone woulci.be injurious by increasing 
action; but, when combined with moisture, it 
is beneficial, by producing relaxation, opening 
the cutaneous pores, and giving rise to perspi- 
ration, thereby removing congestion, and pro- 
ducing effects nearly similar to those which arise 
from the application of blisters. The effects of 
heat an I moisture combined are well exempli* 
fied by what happens when persons take to the 
Warm bath, for instance, a person whose pulse 
is at 75, places himself in a bath, the water of 
which is heated to 100, his pulse soon rises to 
100; presently he perspires freely; his pulse 
becomes less frequent 5 but soft; great relaxa- 
tion follows, and if he were not removed he 
w r ould faint, so great is the exhaustion it occa- 
sions/' 

Now, if the result of the tepid bath is so de- 
cidedly beneficial, the application of aqueous 
vapour must be more so, because being a more 
subtile fluid, it will more readily penetrate 
the cutaneous pores, and produce relaxation. 
Moreover a degree of heat may be borne, when 
applied by means of the vapour bath, which, 
under other circumstances would be insup- 



109 

portable. If, (hen, the united action of stimu- 
lants and the vapour bath has a tendency to re- 
lax constricted vessels, they are both service- 
able in promoting the first part of the second 
indication. 

The objections that have so often been urged 
against the use of the vapour bath have been 
founded altogether in error. It should ever be 
borne in mind, that this invaluable agent is al- 
ways to be used in conjunction with the free 
exhibition of stimuli. When these are neglect- 
ed, there is danger of congestion of the brain, 
instances of which we have known to occur in 
the hands of the faculty, but never in those of 
a 1 homsonian; or, that the determination will 
be from the surface to the centre, a circum- 
stance which cannot be too sedulously avoided. 

When the temperature of the surface is in- 
creased above that of the centre by the adminis- 
tration of the vapour bath, without the internal 
use ofstimulants,thesystem is placed in precisely 
the same situation as when the internal heat is 
diminished below that of the surface by drink- 
ing water while warm, the evil effects of which 
we have elsewhere described.* Hence, when 
the vapour bath is deemed necessary, it should 
be preceded and accompanied by the internal 
use of stimuli, thus keeping, as Dr. Thomson 
expresses it, " the fountain above the stream. 1 ' 
♦Vide, p. 20. 



110 

Here two we may mention the Number one. 
This article is likewise an excellent stimulant 
and diaphoretic. Its administration immedi- 
ately after, or in conjunction with the vapour 
bath, promotes a natural circulation, and opens 
the cutaneous pores, by which means the salu- 
tary effects of the preceding remedies are gent- 
ly kept up. Its relaxing qualities render it very 
appropriate to the purpose of a deobstruent. 
But as it will be more particularly noticed here 
after, it is unnecessary to speak further of it in 
this place, especially, as its power in counter- 
acting the rigidity of the muscular fibre is well 
known to all who have watched its operation. 



Ill 



CHAPTER IV. 

Deobslruents. Derangement of the Alimentary 
Canal. Canker. 

The next thing to be attended to in answer- 
ing the second indication is, the expulsion of 
morbific matter from the various organs. This 
morbific matter, as we have already observed, 
may be introduced by cutaneous absorption, 
pulmonary inhalation, or salivary solution, or 
it may be generated in the system. But it must 
be evident to every one who has attended to 
our explication of the cause of disease, that, 
whatever be the manner of its introduction, or 
the mode of its generation, it cannot have any 
agency in the production of disease, unless de- 
tained in the system by the constrictive influ- 
ence of cold, or the obstruction consequent on 
the reduction of the vital heat. Hence the im- 
perious call for deobstruents. 

Those we have already mentioned — diffusive 
stimuli, and the aqueous vapour bath, will an- 
swer in many cases where the morbid effect! 
a*e not too deej-ly rooted. But others of a more 
powerful nature are indicated where these mor- 
bific particles have fixed themselves in any part 
of the alimentary canal. 



112 

Etmuller, a German physician of note, 
maintained that acidity of the stomach was the 
cause of all febrile affections. Whether such 
disorders always originate from acidity of the 
stomach or not we are not prepared to decide, 
but we may rationally infer, th it all morbific 
matter must be diffused abroad in the system 
through the medium of the stomach, this being 
the centre of sympathies, and the organ by 
means of which all the articles of food are pre- 
pared for the action of the chyliferous vessels. 

This supposition is rendered quite probable 
by other considerations : — First, Many articles 
which produce evil consequences on the hu- 
man system by an external application, gene- 
rally manifest their deleterious influence, by 
their operation on the stomach. If, for in- 
stance, a green leaf of common tobacco be 
bound or laid on the abdomen, the peristaltick 
motion of the alimentary canal is soon reversed 
nausea and violent vomiting occur, and death 
follows. Secondly, in every modification of 
disease there is more or less vitiated lymph, or 
Dr. Thomson's canker, discovered in the sto- 
mach and intestines. 

In view of this circumstance, medicines that 
will disburthen the fauces, stomach and intes- 
tines of their load of canker, may be adminis- 
tered with a salutary effect. Such are the va* 



113 

rious preparations of Number one, Number 
three, and the Injections, recommended in 
the New Guide to Health, all of which will be 
found highly advantageous. 



114 



CHAPTER V. 

Number One. Alarming Symptoms. Number 

Three. 

Number one is among the most active erne- 
tics of the whole Materia Medica, and although 
much prejudice has been excited against its 
use by interested persons, we conceive our- 
selves fully justifiable in asserting it to be one 
of the safest ever yet discovered. We have ad- 
ministered it, in some cases, to the amount of 
six large teaspoons full of the first preparation; 
and we have taken, during an attack of bilious 
fever, so called, five teaspoons full of the pow- 
dered seed, the most active part of the plant, in 
every instance with the most indubitable be- 
nefit. 

Two facts conspire to establish the convic- 
tion of its perfect safety: — First, in itself it is 
stimulant, thereby promoting the generation of 
the vital heat ; and secondly, when combined 
with Number two, which also increases the 
vital heat, its effects are more certain. It there* 
fore acts in entire harmony with the principle 
of life, according to the physiological require- 
ment before laid down; and if its operation be 



115 

congenial to the power of nature, it assuredly 
must be safe. 

Its activity is frequently manifested by the 
supervention of what have been termed M the 
alarming symptoms." These, however, so far 
from producing alarm, should be considered as 
affording the most triumphant proof of its benefi- 
cial effects. Operating as a diffusive stimulant, 
it is opposed to the inorganic contractility re- 
sulting from a reduction of the vital heat, and 
by increasing this principle of life, it exerts an 
expansive influence on the muscular fibre, 
thereby producing a tingling sensation through- 
out the whole system. 

It has latterly been found, however, that this 
unpleasant effect of Lobelia may be com- 
pletely obviated by its union with Bitter 
Root. The publication of this discovery has 
been eagerly seized by the opponents of Thom- 
gotrism as a flagrant inconsistency, as they sup- 
pose, of the system. That opposition must be 
preposterous in the extreme, which has no- 
thing in its favour but sophistry, such as the 
merest tyro in logic may overturn. 

The burning sensation caused by a plaster of 
cantharides or Spanish flies, is undoubtedly 
considered a good symptom, by which it is as- 
certained that it draws; but, if it were possible 
to produce the blister without the burning, 
9* 



116 

would the Faculty lightly esteem the discovery? 
We think not. Again — an accoucheur looks on 
the violence of parturient pains as a favourable 
symptom; but, if he could devise some method 
of alleviating the misery of his patient, without 
diminishing the expulsive efforts of nature, 
would he not pursue it ? He might even do so, 
and yet view the natural labour pains as a fa- 
vourable, though certainly not a pleasant 
symptom. 

Dr. Thomson, therefore, is not to be consi- 
dered as retracting one word of what he for- 
merly predicated of" the alarming symptoms" 
following the use of Lobelia, when he advises 
the addition of Bitter Root as a preventive 
of those symptoms. 

The action of the emetic is very much faci- 
litated by the exhibition of Number three, 
which completely loosens all morbific matter 
that may adhere to the villous coat of the sto- 
mach and small intestines, thus obviating the 
difficulty which might arise from the non-se- 
cretion of the gastric juice, or from the non- 
absorption of the nutritious portion of the chyle. 
This cankerous matter when loosened by Num- 
ber three, is easily ejected from the stomach 
by the powerfully emetic properties of Num- 
ber one, or carried downward by the opera- 
tion of an enema or clyster. Since this vitiated 



117 

lymph or canker is always discoverable in the 
stomach and intestines, in some degree, there 
is no form of disease in which the use of Num- 
ber three should be proscribed or neglected. 



118 

CHAPTER VI. 

Deobsiruents continued. Injections. Number Six. 

The operation of the injections is two-fold: 
— First, they promote a gentle dejection; and 
secondly, they restore a healthy action to the 
intestines. When the intestinal portion of the 
alimentary canal becomes coated with canker, 
the mouths of the lymphatics are obstructed; 
and when the superficial emunctories are closed, 
the intestinal exhalents pour forth a superabun- 
dance of their fluids; in either case diarrhceal 
and dysenteric affections follow. At other 
time?, the mouths of these latter vessels are 
constricted by the direct influence of cold, or 
are obstructed by a cankerous coating, and vio- 
lent constipation is the consequence. In all 
these cases the injections will be found highly 
serviceable in removing both the canker and 
tbe crude injesta. 

We can scarce too much extol these injeo 
TlONs;for unlike the drastic purgatives of the day, 
they do not exhaust the strength of the patient, 
or leave any unpleasant effects behind. One 
or two evacuations is generally the extent of 
their action on the bowels, and those produced 



119 

in a manner almost natural. It might be sup- 
posed by those unacquainted with their genial 
operation, that in view of their apparently slight 
effect, they must be frequently repeated, and 
that the repetition would render them a trou- 
blesome agent. Such would be the case if they 
merely removed the contents of the intestines; 
but they likewise restore a healthy action. — 
They allay irritation, subdue any inflammatory 
symptoms, and prevent the tendency to morti- 
fication. By their stimulating properties they 
increase the general heat of the system, pro- 
mote the natural action of the bowels, and thus 
preclude the necessity of repetition, unless ia 
obstinate cases. 

Number six may likewise be mentioned 
here, for when applied externally, besides be- 
ing detergent and antiseptic, it likewise ope- 
rates as a deobstruent. It is true, Sir Astley 
Cooper, in the quotation we have already made 
from his " Treatment of Inflammation, 1 ' de- 
nounces the application of heat a<one, because 
of its tending to increase action; but then he 
had allusion to extraneous heat simply. Num- 
ber six, however, increases the internal heat; 
and since local inflammation originates from 
local obstruction, it may be dispersed by an 
agent, which will increase that heat, by the re- 
duction of which the local congestion is occa- 



120 

gioned. Number six may therefore be applied 
with advantage. 

If then these remedies act in accordance 
with the requisitions of physiology and patho- 
logy, they must necessarily be beneficial in 
every modification of disease* From the fore- 
going exhibition of their nature and modus oper- 
andi^ we arrive at the following conclusions: — 
First, their properties are such as act directly 
in aid of the principle of life; and secondly 
their effect is the removal of obstructions which 
if permitted to remain, would eventuate in re 
suits as disastrous to the animal economy 
Hence, they are admirably calculated to ac 
complish the second design of therapeutial sci 
ence, and, by consequence, are eminently use 
ful in every form of disease. 



121 



CHAPTER VII. 

Third Indication. Alteratives. Tonics. Nrnubers 
Four and Five. 

The next grand object to be aimed at in the 
treatment of disease is to restore the tone of the 
system, which should be done by means of al- 
teratives and tonics ; these should act through 
the medium of the stomach and bowels on the 
whole system. Bad habits of body are easily 
established, and when thus established become 
second nature. It is therefore requisite, after 
having removed the obstructions which pro- 
duce such habits, to exhibit alteratives and to- 
nics, in order to promote a healthy performance 
of the functions. 

Since the digestive organs exert so great an 
influence over all the vital functions, and since 
the stomach and bowels, in every form of dis- 
ease, are to some certain extent labouring un- 
der impaired action, of which the nausea, loss 
of appetite, and furred tongue, the usual conco- 
mitants of disease, give proof; it will be found 
expedient to direct our remedies intended to 
effect the object of the third indication to them 
primarily. Correct the depraved habit they 



122 

may have contracted,' and that of the other 
organs will be more easily overcome. 

But it is one thing to gain the victory, and 
another to maintain it. Bad habits are almost 
as easily recontracted as at first established, 
particularly when they have been of long stand- 
ing prior to their removal. It therefore becomes 
necessary to guard against their return. Tonics 
will render the solids of the body firm, and en- 
able the system more successfully to resist a se- 
cond attack, and the various organs to perform 
their respective functions with uninterrupted 
regularity. When the regularity of functional 
action is not thus continued, we may take it for 
granted that the debility, arising from the pre- 
dominance of a bad habit, is not entirely re- 
moved; and, as the finale of our treatment we 
should prescribe correctives and tonics. 

Both these qualities are contained in Num- 
bers four and five, which ought never to be 
neglected. Nevertheless, it should be recol- 
lected, that this end is not to be accomplished 
by medicines whose operation is confined to 
the stomach and bowels alone, but by such aa 
will act on the system generally. Hence the 
addition of Number two to the Number fou& 
will increase its salutary effects. 

These remedies, fulfilling the third and last 
indication, viz: — The restoration of tone or 



123 

strength to the system, will leave the patient 
perfectly free from disease, and prepared to re- 
sist its influence more effectually at a subse- 
quent period, 

Inasmuch as the Thom?onian medieines are 
so well calculated to promote the three great 
designs of the healing art, or in other words, to 
increase the vital heat, remove obstructions, 
and invigorate debilitated organs; and as they 
act in harmony with that principle, whose pe- 
culiar function it is to animate the corporeal 
frame, and repel the invasions of every foe to 
health and life, there cannot possibly be any 
form of disease in which they may not be used 
with perfect safety and success, if the attack ba 
at all curable by human means. 



THE END. 



ERRATA. 

Page 12, line 7 from bottom, for "act of 
motion" read u act of moving." 

Page 15, line 5 from top, omit" the." 

Page 22, line 4 from top, for " emerging" 
read " immerging." 

Page 32, line 4 from top, after " composed" 
read " is based" 

Page 74, last line, omit " the.' 



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